It happened – the Kirkwood Community College Eagles Women’s Basketball Team won the NJCAA DII National Championship for the second time in three years and the ninth time in program history.
All nine championships have been under Hall of Fame Head Coach Kim Muhl since taking over the program in 1990.
Other tournament awards and accolades include Jenna Twedt being named tournament MVP. Twedt was also named to the All-Tournament Team along with Kaylee Corbin and Demetria Prewitt. Muhl was also named the Lorene Ramsey Coach of the Tournament for the ninth time, which is an NJCAA record.
Throughout regionals the Eagles were dominant from the start, beating Ellsworth by 43 points with 17 points from Twedt and Corbin and 16 from Emily Dreckman.
They went on to beat Iowa Central with Twedt scoring 25 and Dreckman and Prewitt scoring 17 and 16 points respectively, winning the Region 11 championship and sending them to the national tournament. At nationals, Kirkwood dominated the competition winning 75-53 against North Platte and beating Lake Land 90-69 in the first two rounds.
In the quarterfinals Kirkwood would go on to take on Morton College, who had a record 31-4. Kirkwood had a 43-32 lead on the half.
The third and fourth quarters were fairly even in scoring, but the Eagles took the win, 88-78.
The next game was against Mesa Community College, who went into the game 27-6, but Kirkwood would end their hopes, dominating the first three quarters to beat them 66-43.
The Eagles faced their toughest game of the entire year at nationals, in Joplin, Mo., where they competed against No. 1 seed undefeated Johnson County Community College, who had a record of 34-0. The Eagles stayed ahead the first and second quarters by five and six points.
The final two quarters were close, but Johnson County didn’t have it in them to cut the deficit where Kirkwood would secure another championship, winning 69-58.
Kirkwood will host an on campus celebration at a date to be announced later.
Categories: Campus News, Local News, News
