Lubbock, TX – Moberly Area Community College game into the 2023 NJCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship with the No. 2 offense in junior college basketball, averaging more than 85 points per game. Yet, through three quarters, the Lady Greyhounds had managed just a third of that total against the smothering defense from Barton Community College.
When it mattered most, however, the Lady Greyhounds got the points the needed from one of the most unlikeliest of players.
Jenny Ntambwe, who came into the tournament fifth on the team in scoring at 8.2 points per game, scored 14 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to go with nine rebounds, and Moberly rallied for a 64-56 victory in double overtime in the opening game of the tournament at the Rip Griffin Center.
'I think it was just me … I wanted it more than anybody else out there," Ntambwe said. "Coach Hana (Haden) was talking to us about they're going to be big, so you have to be hungry. As much as (Barton) boxed me out, I had to go out there and do the same exact thing. We're here to win it, we're here for the whole tournament and I had to step up and do what I do for my team."
T'Aaliyah Miner added 15 points and 19 rebounds for Moberly and McKenna Eddings chipped in 11 points in the win.
Trailing by 12 early in the fourth quarter with just 26 points, less than a third of its season average, Moberly (29-3) slowly began chipping away at the lead before Ntambwe asserted herself inside, hitting four straight free throws and a layup as part of a 9-0 run that put the Lady Greyhounds up 47-44 with 24.2 to play in the game.
But Barton (28-6) tied it on a 3-pointer from Brennan Kirchloff from the left wing – off the glass – with 17.8 seconds to play, and Moberly failed to get off a shot before the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
Neither team led by more than a bucket in the first overtime, with Ntambwe hitting a layup with 3.1 to play to tie the game and Bardon missing a half-court heave at the buzzer.
Jenny Womsi led Barton with 19 points and 17 rebounds. Acorionna Lard added 11 points for the Lady Cougars, which used a 11-2 run to end the third quarter to take its biggest lead of the game, then added a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter to extend its lead to double digits. But the Lady Cougars couldn't fend off a furious Moberly rally.
Moberly finally put the game away in the second overtime period, outscoring Barton 8-0 on the second overtime period.
"Last year we came down here and had a horrendous offensive performance in the first half, and I went into halftime saying there's no way we could be this bad offensively again," Haden said. "Unfortunately we were, and I was having some really bad déjà vu, and we came back out and had nine points in the third quarter. I'm just proud of our players, their toughness. It was a tough, gritty game."
Moberly Area advances to the second round on Thursday where it will face overall No 1 seed South Georgia Tech at 2 p.m.
Morgan Meyers added 10 points for the Lady Cougars.
The opening game of the tournament was a distinct contrast in styles – Moberly's high-power offense against Barton's smothering defense. The Lady Greyhounds came into the tournament averaging more than 85 points per game, the second-best mark in the nation, while the Lady Cougars came in allowing just under 55 points per game.
Yet it was Barton's defense that made the difference in the first 20 minutes. The Lady Cougars held the Lady Greyhounds to just 24 percent (6 of 25) from the field and just 16.7 percent (2 of 12) from the 3-point arch. Barton also forced 11 Moberly turnovers.
Barton, however, wasn't much better as the Lady Greyhounds held the Lady Cougars to 27.6 percent from the field (8 of 29), but the Lady Cougars took advantage of their size to outscore Moberly 10-6 in the paint while outrebounding the Lady Greyhounds 23-19.
Moberly had the first surge of either team as a 6-0 run, keyed by four points from Ntambwe pushed the Lady Greyhounds to an 8-6 lead. But four free throws from Jenny Nkem Womsi helped the Lady Cougars take a 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Barton then used a run of its own to take control of the game. A deep 3-pointer from the top of the key by Morgan Meyers sparked a 7-0 run that gave the Lady Cougars their largest lead of the game at 18-11 with 6:19 to play in the half. Moberly answered with a 5-2 run, but a trey from the left wing by Lard pushed the lead back to six at the intermission.
Eddings led Moberly at the half with six points while Lard had seven and Womsi six for the Lady Cougars.
