(Article courtesy of George Watson, Lubbock Avalanche Journal)

Isadora Sousa saw a wide-open baseline and tried to drive for a Chipola College basket, but waiting for her in the paint was Trinity Valley Community College's 6-foot-5 center Taiyanna Jackson.

Caught in between in the air, Sousa could neither get off a pass or a shot, and the ball simply floated right into Jackson's hands for a turnover.

That was symbolic of the entire night. Trinity Valley's length and defensive pressure hounded Chipola, and the Indians were powerless to get around it or stop the Lady Cardinals from dominating in the paint. The result was a 77-66 Trinity Valley victory in the semifinals of the NJCAA Tournament. 

"Jackson got hurt early in the season, and that helped develop Williams and (Kiana) Anderson and (Mikayla) Hutchinson," Trinity Valley coach Precious Ivy said. "They got a lot of minutes early in the season and that is really helping us now because they have that experience, and it's a two-headed monster right now no matter who we put in."

Jackson finished 15 points, 21 rebounds and five blocked shots, and 6-1 forward Mahoganie Williams had 21 points, six rebounds and a block as the Lady Cardinals advanced to the title game for the first time since 2018. They're in search of their ninth national title and first since 2014.

To accomplish that feat, Trinity Valley will have to get past Northwest Florida State in Saturday's 3 p.m. championship game.

Anderson added 10 points and five rebounds for the Lady Cardinals and Kaye Clark chipped in 12 points and three assists, helping their team build a big lead early in the second quarter.

The play of Williams, Jackson and Anderson down low helped Trinity Valley forge a 50-18 advantage on points in the paint and a 51-34 advantage on the boards. 

"(Chipola) has height, but I thought we were more athletic, and we did want to take advantage of that, and it worked out in our favor," Ivy said. "All we've talked about is playing 40 minutes, and we hadn't done it up until this point. We got to the tournament and I think the girls have done an amazing job of playing 40 minutes."

Try as it might, Chipola simply couldn't chip away enough in the second half after falling behind 40-22 at halftime.

Trinity Valley pushed the lead to 50-30 with 6:15 to play in the third quarter. But Chipola rallied with a 9-1 run to cut the deficit to at 51-39, and a 3-point goal by Jordan McLaughlin just before the quarter ended had the Indians down 57-44.

Chipola got within 12 one more time, but that came late in the game. 

Trinity Valley forced 19 turnovers and held Chipola leading scorer De'Myla Brown, who came into the tournament averaging 20 points per game, to 16, but 10 of that came after the outcome was well in hand. McLaughlin led the Indians with 21 points and Sousa added 13.

"That was definitely the plan," Ivy said. "We wanted to limit (Brown), and I thought we did a good job of that. We didn't limit (McLaughlin) as much, but we knew (Brown) was really their spark, so we didn't want to let her get going."

There wasn't a whole lot that didn't go right for the Lady Cardinals in the first half. Trinity's length gave the Indians fits from the beginning. The Lady Cardinals outscored Chipola 28-8 on points in the paint and outrebounded the Indians 28-20 while shooting 51.4 percent (18 of 35) from the field.

Chipola, meanwhile, had trouble getting off a good shot. The Indians weathered an early storm but could not stem the tide completely and hit just 8 of 36 shots from the field (22.2 percent) in the first half.

Noteworthy

• The Lady Indians finish the season with a record of 20-5 and their 7th FCSAA Championship. This was the Lady Indians' ninth NJCAA Tournament appearance.
• Jordan McLaughlin scored in double figures in all three of the NJCAA Tournament games. McLaughlin had a season-high four three-pointers in the game vs. Trinity Valley.
• De'Myla Brown finished the season with a streak of 19 games scoring in double digits. Brown only had one game where she did not score in double figures (8, vs. Northwest Florida, February 13)