It's often been said and written – even sung – that when we stand together it's our finest hour.
Such is the stance the Lady Cardinals and Cardinals took Saturday afternoon. And now they both stand together atop the Region XIV basketball world.
Playing in the regional championship games at Lee College in Baytown, both punched their tickets to the upcoming NJCAA tournaments. The Lady Cardinals posted a last-second 70-68 win against Kilgore. The Cardinals ran away and hid from Lee in the second half for an 85-67.
As a result, the Lady Cardinals will be in Lake Charles, La., at the women's event March 24-31 and the Cardinals will make the jaunt to Hutchinson, Kan., in an attempt to defend their men's title from a year ago March 21-28.
The Lady Cardinals head to the big show with a 29-3 record. The Cardinals are 28-5.
The Lady Cardinals are seeded sixth in the national tournament. The Cardinals are seeded fourth. Both will receive byes in the opening round.
WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
TVCC 70, Kilgore 68
In qualifying for their 30th national tournament and claiming their 25th regional crown, the Lady Cardinals used some last-second dramatics to put away a feisty Kilgore squad.
After Kilgore's Ja'Sani Green hit a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to tie the score at 68-68, the Lady Cardinals used a timeout to advance the ball to their end of the court in front of their bench. They got the into the hands of Malaya Jones, who dribbled about three seconds off the clock, made the Kilgore defense commit and shoveled a pass to Kenidi Glover underneath the goal.
Glover took it from there and made her move. She then flipped up a shot that found its destination with 1.37 seconds left on the clock. Kilgore called a timeout to advance the ball, but the time was too short for a meaningful attempt to rewrite the ending Glover had authored.
The game was a see-saw battle in the first half. Kilgore was up 22-21 after one quarter and the Lady Cardinals led 35-33 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Lady Cardinals once built the lead to eight only to see Kilgore get back into the game. The Lady Cardinals managed to keep the lead – but barely – until Kilgore finally tied it.
Glover led the Lady Cardinals with 15 points. Kalyse Buffin had 14, Taylor Day-Davis 12 and Jones 11.
Kilgore, which was a 79-73 overtime winner against the Lady Cardinals in the regional semifinals last year, closed the year with a 20-13 record.
The Lady Cardinals are on a 9-game winning streak.
