On Saturday, the 17th-ranked Blinn College women's basketball team had to do something it hadn't done this season to accomplish something it had never done at all.
The Buccaneers defeated No. 13 Tyler Junior College 95-77 at the Kruse Center in Brenham, ousting the Apaches for the first time this season while clinching a share of the Region XIV championship for the first time in program history.
"When you play 18 games in this region with teams like Tyler, Trinity Valley, Angelina and Kilgore, it's really hard to win this conference," said Blinn head coach Jeff Jenkins, currently in his 20th campaign leading the Bucs. "This group has done something that has never happened. I think that speaks for itself."
Blinn (25-4, 14-4 in Region XIV) finished the regular season tied for first place with No. 11 Trinity Valley Community College (23-5, 14-4). The first-place tiebreaker to determined the top seed in the region tournament will be decided ahead of the start of the tournament.
On Saturday, the Buccaneers were playing their second game in as many days after falling on the road to Trinity Valley 79-71 Friday in Athens, Texas. Undeterred by the quick turnaround, Blinn went toe-to-toe with the Apaches in the first half, trailing 21-18 at the end of the first quarter before storming ahead in the second period.
A quick 5-2 burst to end the first half, highlighted by a pair of free throws from freshman guard Hannah Humphrey and a fastbreak buzzer-beating layup from freshman guard Allana Thompson to send the Bucs into the break with a 37-35 edge.
In the opening minute of the third quarter, freshman guard Telisha Brown buried back-to-back 3-pointers for a 43-35 lead and Blinn was in control the rest of the way.
"We lost on Friday … a very tough loss to a tough team, but we knew coming into today that if we won, we'd be first in this conference," said Brown, who scored a team-high 25 points with five 3-pointers. "That was enough to motivate us and drive us to this win. We just came out and played as a team, made stops, and scored the ball."
Tyler made a comeback late in the third quarter to draw within 65-59 heading into the fourth, but Blinn freshman guard Jakoriah Long snuffed out the rally with two consecutive 3s to make it a 71-59 ballgame.
The Buccaneers also flexed their muscles from the free-throw line with 12 consecutive makes from the charity stripe in the final 3:20 of play. Blinn sophomore Deja Adrian was honored prior to the start of the contest as part of the program's Sophomore Day festivities, and appropriately capped the free-throw shooting display and the scoring with a pair of makes at the end of the game.
"We couldn't keep our heads down after the loss (Friday), so we just told ourselves that we still had another game to play and that it was a big one," Adrian said. "This was our last home game of the season – my last home game here ever – so we wanted to go out with a bang and show out for our fans and everyone who supports us."
Behind Brown, Humphrey scored 19 points, Adrian tallied 16, and Long added 12.
Blinn's next game will take place in the Region XIV Tournament. The tournament field has yet to be announced. Visit BuccaneerSports.com for schedule updates.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
