Johnson County Release | All-Tournament Team

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Picking up two more wins to continue their unbeaten season, the Johnson County Community College women’s basketball team has secured their spot in the 2026 NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Basketball National Tournament as the Cavaliers won the 2026 NJCAA Region Division 2 Women’s Basketball Plains District Tournament Title in Kansas City, Kansas.

Entering the tournament a perfect 30-0 and unbeaten since suffering an upset defeat in last year’s NJCAA Region 6 D2 Women’s Basketball Plains Tournament semifinal round, the Cavaliers looked focus from the opening tip of their semifinal round matchup with Labette after jumping out to a 15-4 lead in the opening four and a half minutes to set the pace against the Cardinals. Expanding their lead to double digits by the end of the first quarter, JCCC weathered a run by Labette that cut the lead for the Cavaliers down to five at 26-21 with just over five minutes remaining before halftime by outscoring LCC 14-6 the rest of the first half to go back up 13 after shooting 47.2 percent from the floor. In the second half, the lead never dipped below 11 as Johnson County outscored Labette 20-10 in the third quarter and took their largest lead of the game at 69-42 with just over six minutes remining before putting cruising to a 19-point win.  

Awaiting the winner of Neosho County and Allen, Johnson County was the beneficiary of the extra rest that came with playing in the first semifinal on Friday along with a back-and-forth battle between the Panthers and Red Devils later in the day that featured 10 lead changes and 16 ties. With the game played within single digits the entire way, neither team was able to secure a lead after one quarter of action with the score deadlocked at 15-15 before seeing Allen manage to outscore Neosho County 14-11 in the second quarter to grab a slim 29-26 lead at the intermission break despite shooting under 35 percent from the field. Out of halftime, Neosho County made a quick surge by scoring 11 of the first 15 points of the second half to grab a 39-35 lead and take their largest lead of the contest with 4:15 left in the quarter at 44-35.

Responding with a 9-0 run, Allen battled to tie things back at 44-44 as the game remained tight to end the third quarter as part of a 48-48 tie heading into the fourth where both offenses started to click. Trading made threes to open the fourth, neither team was able to find a lead of more than three until back-to-back made triples by NCCC’s Laynie Winfrey to put the Panthers up 61-55 and force an Allen timeout with 7:28 remaining. The Red Devils went the next three-plus minutes without a field goal which allowed Neosho County to keep their lead at two possessions heading into the final three minutes of the game as ACC was never able to get closer than three points down the stretch while seeing NCCC secure the third and final matchup between schools this season.

The additional rest from having a first-round bye and convincing semifinal round victory was on display from the start in the next day when Johnson County took on Neosho County in the Plains District Tournament Championship game as JCCC scored six of the first eight points of the contest and pushed their lead out to double-digits midway through the quarter while outscoring Panthers 26-11 in the first by ending the quarter by scoring the final 15 points. Despite being held scoreless for the first three-plus minutes of the second, Johnson County never let their lead drop below nine before putting together another run by scoring nine straight points to go up 35-17 and eventually take a 39-23 lead into halftime. The lead continued to grow for JCCC throughout the second half, eclipsing the 30-point mark late in the third quarter which allowed the Cavaliers to keep bodies fresh in the fourth by making substitutions as needed and having 13 players see the court as only one player for Johnson County played more than 27 minutes.

Across the two tournament games for Johnson County, sophomore guard Kara Stricklin led the way by averaging 14.5 points and 3.0 assists per contest which included a 17-point outing in the championship game to be named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Other Cavalier players to be named to the All-Tournament team included forward Mia Adams who totaled 29 points, four rebounds, one block, and one steal over the two games while scoring a game-high 20 in the championship game while Layla Scott earned her way onto the All-Tournament team by averaging 13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per contest.  

Johnson County will now await their official seeding and opponent in the NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Basketball National Tournament, as the Cavaliers are expected to be the number one overall seed as defending National Champions and one of two remaining unbeaten teams in NJCAA Division 2 this season. The 2026 NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Basketball National Tournament is set to take place March 16-21 at the Tarlton Complex in Hickory, North Carlina for the first time since the 2020-21 season when Johnson County earned a national runner-up finish to Lake Land Community College. The official tournament field will be released at 5 PM (EDT) on Tuesday, March 10th live on the NJCAA Network (www.njcaa.org/network) when 16 automatic district qualifiers joined by four at-large teams into the field.