March 19, 2025
Top-Seeded Kirkwood Eagles Hold Off Rock Valley to Advance in NJCAA DII Tournament
Joplin, MO-
Kirkwood 84
Rock Valley 75
Top seeded Kirkwood advanced to the quarter finals of the NJCAA DII National Tournament with a hard fought 84-75 win over 17-seeded Rock Valley Tuesday morning.
It was a struggle for both teams to get any offensive going in the opening quarter, as 14 combined fouls were called, however the Eagles managed to hold a 15-14 lead.
Kirkwood (32-0) settled down defensively in second quarter and got their offense going in the right direction outscoring Rock Valley 34-16 in the second quarter and led 49-30 lead at halftime.
The Eagles took their largest lead of the game at 55-33 on a layup by sophomore Ella Pritchard with 6:47 remaining in the third quarter.
Rock Valley was not going down without a fight as they closed the quarter shooting 6-9 from three point range and cut the Eagles' lead to 65-52 after three quarters of play.
Kirkwood's lead dwindled down to 71-65 on Rock Valley's ninth made three pointer of the second half with 5:10 remaining in the game.
That would be as close as Rock Valley would get though, as the Eagles increased their lead back to double digits at 75-65 on consecutive baskets by Pritchard and sophomore Jenna Twedt.
Five Eagles finished in double figures in a balanced scoring attack led by sophomore Kaliyah Sain's 15 points.
Sophomore Lizzy Puot and freshman Eva Steffenson both scored 12 points.
Sophomore Jariah Harris came off the bench to score 11 points and Twedt added 10 points.
Pritchard finished with nine points and freshman Olivia Wren chipped in eight points.
The Eagles outscored Rock Valley 44-12 in the paint and won the battle on the boards 42-34.
Kirkwood will now play (9) Mesa on Thursday at 5:30 pm.
Link to Boxscore:
