2000 NJCAA National Champions (22-13)
Johnson County Community College earned it first trip to the NJCAA National Tournament in the 1999-2000 season, and when the tournament was complete, the Cavaliers were national champions. Johnson County completed its run through the Division II tournament Saturday night, March 17, with a 63-61 victory over Monroe Community College of Rochester, N.Y., in the title game in Hagerstown, Md.
Johnson County struggled from the field, just as it did in their 72-69 semifinal victory over Shelton State, but made up for it at the free throw line. JCCC made just 16 of 41 shots in the title game, but hit 19 of 24 free throws. Monroe hit just eight of 21 from the line.
Sophomore Kate DeBaun, who set two tournament records in the semifinal win hitting 14 of 14 free throws, hit all four attempts in the championship against Monroe, including two with seven seconds remaining. Her two free throws gave JCCC a two-point advantage. DeBaun finished the three-game tournament going 20 for 20 from the line, setting a third tournament record for most consecutive free throws made.
Sophomore Angie Dinkel paced JCCC with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Katie Bollegar, who was named the tournament’s MVP, followed with 14 points and five rebounds. DeBaun added 10 points and four assists. JCCC finished its season at 22-13. All three were selected to the all-tournament team.
Bollegar opened the tournament with a 20 point effort. She added nine points and seven rebounds in the semifinal win over Shelton State. Bollegar averaged 14.3 points over the three games in the tournament.
DeBaun, who set three NJCAA D-II women’s tournament records, averaged 13.7 points. She poured in 23 points in JCCC’s semifinal win over Shelton State, matching her career high.
Dinkel averaged 14 points and 8.3 rebounds in three tournament games, and led JCCC in scoring in both the quarterfinal win over South Suburban and the championship win over Monroe, scoring 16 in each contest.
“I give both Kate and Angie a lot of credit,” head coach Debbie Carrier said. “They did a great job of leading this team both on and off the floor.”
While JCCC ended the season on the highest of highs, it wasn’t like that all season. There were moments during the season when the team struggled, but that’s when the character of this team came out according to Dinkel.
“This group was so much more dedicated than last year,” Dinkel said. “We set a goal of winning nationals our first day together, and even during our down times, we still remained focussed and were determined to have a good season, no matter how hard we had to work at it.”
Winning a national title seemed improbable for the Cavaliers who lost 10 players from the 1998-99 campaign. But with the leadership of Dinkel and DeBaun, along with the talents of eight new freshman, Carrier was confident about winning the title early in the season.
“Many of our players come from winning programs and know what to do,” Carrier said. “All year long our goal was to get to nationals and win the title.”
Head coach Debbie Carrier was selected the NJCAA Division II Women’s Coach of the Year.
2015 NJCAA National Champions (34-2)
Johnson County freshman guard Alexis Brown knocked down a buzzer beater jumper as time expired to give the Lady Cavaliers a 66-64 victory over top-ranked Parkland College in the 2015 NJCAA Division II Women’s National Championship at JCCC Gymnasium on Saturday night. Brown’s game winning shot sent a wave of students onto the court for a celebration.
This is Johnson County’s second national championship and the first for head coach Ben Conrad, who also picked up his 300th career win in the process.
Tied at 64-64 with 21 seconds remaining, freshman Kayonna Lee grabbed a crucial offensive rebound off a JCCC miss, giving Lady Cavaliers the opportunity to take the final shot. After a timeout, freshman guard Erica Nelson found Brown on the right wing. She dribbled right, stepped back and let it fly.
During the timeout Conrad said he debated between having Nieka Wheeler, Brown or even Nelson take the final shot, but ultimately chose Brown.
“I just felt Lex in that closely guarded situation was our best chance,” Conrad said. “We ran a little box iso (isolation) play we used to run a lot. She made a big time shot in the biggest moment of her basketball life.”
Brown finished with 14 points off the bench for the Lady Cavaliers. She was 5-for-13 from the field with two 3-pointers, and 2-of-3 at the line.
Johnson County was led offensively by Wheeler’s 16-point effort. She was 5-of-14 from the field, with two treys, and hit 4-of-5 free throws. She averaged 19.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in JCCC’s four games and was chosen the tournament’s MVP.
“She is a special kid, special person, great leader and warrior,” said Conrad “She will be a successful person in her life because of her character.”
Nelson finished with 11 points and five assists, and Lee was the game’s top rebounder with 11, including six on the offensive end. Lee also grabbed a key offensive board and kick out that led to a Brown three-pointer that gave Johnson County a 64-61 lead with 1:38 to play.
Johnson County shot just 37 percent in the first half, but hit six of its nine 3-pointers in that half to built a 10-point lead with six to play. Parkland fought back and JCCC only led 34-31 at halftime.
The first four minutes of the second half saw the Cobras erase its three-point deficit and turn it into a five point advantage, but from there the two teams exchanged six lead changes and four ties.
“Parkland was just an extremely difficult team to play in that final,” Conrad said. “They are one of the tougher teams both mentally and physically I’ve personally faced in my career.”
Johnson County’ victory ended Parkland’s 35-game winning streak, which had not lost since its season opener. Nadine Vaughn led the Cobras with 20 points. She was 7-of-9 from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 at the line. All-tournament picks Laura Litchfield and Hannah Wascher followed with 16 and 14 points.
Johnson County won its final 12 games of the season and finished with a final record of 34-2, setting a new season mark for victories. Conrad now has a record of 207-32 in sevens seasons at JCCC and has a strung together six consecutive 30-win seasons.
“This was special not only for our players and coaches, but for the students and fans that came out and supported us, and this campus community,” said Conrad. “All of Johnson County and Kansas can be proud of what our kids did in this tournament. But we don’t define our teams based on what happens in 40-minutes in March, never had and never will. We’ve had some special people it did not work out for in March. That being said, it is special and such a validation of our process and how we approach our day-to-day work in this program.”