Arriving in Winona Lake, Ind. on Monday evening, the Lee women's basketball team completed their community service opportunity on Tuesday and began preparing for the opening round of the 2014 NCCAA National Championships.
The Lady Flames (23-5) will be pitted against the host school, Grace College (17-15). The first tip is scheduled for 5:15 Eastern.
The NCCAA tourney field has taken on a different look in recent years. Seven of the eight teams in the annual event have moved from the NAIA to NCAA Division II. Roberts Wesleyan has already cleared the NCAA provisional period. Oklahoma Christian, Union University and Azusa Pacific are in the final stage.
Lee has one more year before gaining full privileges, while Emmanuel and Southern Wesleyan are in the first stage of the three-year process. Grace is the only program not making the move away from the NAIA.
"It looks like a great field, with teams like Azusa and Oklahoma Christian here with Union and our team," declared head coach Marty Rowe. "It certainly feels like a normal March. We are just at a different location. This should be an outstanding tournament."
The host club drew the 8
th seed, but Rowe says that is deceiving. "Grace is definitely a quality opponent and playing them on their home court is going to be a challenge," he said on Tuesday morning. "We've been a good team on the road this season, so we'll lean on that as we get ready for tomorrow. Their (Grace) record is deceiving because they play in a quality league and they've only had their entire team since January. We'll have to play well tomorrow."
The Lancers are paced by Juaneice Jackson (18.3 points per game) and Allison Kauffman (16.4 ppg). "They have two primary scorers that we'll have to deal with, especially an athletic scoring guard," pointed out Rowe. "As usual, we'll ask Rachel (Lockhart) to take on the challenge of containing the other team's best player."
The Lady Flames will be trying to bounce back from a highly emotional and extremely physical three-point loss at Union on Saturday in the championship game of the Mid-East Region.
"I really don't see any negative effects from the Union loss," said Rowe. "It was a great game between two outstanding teams that were competing on a very high level. I think you'll see this bunch respond like they always have, focused and determined not to let it happen again."
Lee has featured the ability to score inside and from behind the arc. Grace has made only 110 3-pointers and shoots only 28 percent from long range. The Lady Flames have ripped the nets for 242 treys and shoot 33 percent.
The focus will likely be keeping the Lancers pushed outside. They hit 41 percent of their shoots from the field and 69 percent from the line. Lee shoots 42 from field and can be deadly at the line, making over 77 percent of their attempts.
STREAMING INFORMATION
As the official and exclusive video streaming and production company of the NCCAA, Tourbeau Sports Group is really excited to bring coverage of the 2014 NCCAA Div 1 Basketball National Championships once again to Winona Lake, IN
The following information provides you with the information you need to know to watch and follow along with all things NCCAA Basketball and the Tourbeau Sports Group Network. This is information to relay to your players, coaches, families, fans and to distribute on your school's websites and social media platforms.
All 24 games will have LIVE, HD Video and Audio Commentary action from Winona Lake. These games can be bought IN ADVANCE or LIVE for a single game price of
$6.95 per game.
You can also buy an "ALL-TOURNAMENT ACCESS PASS" for
$29.95, which allows you to watch every game from the event. Under $1.25 per a game!!
The URL/Channel Portal Link you want to have fans pushed to is:
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/tourbeau.portal
Fans/Coaches/Families and others can also purchase video downloads and game-film in HD format after the tournament on our website at this link:
http://www.tourbeausportsgroup.com/video-downloads---orders.html
