Owls Advance To National Tournament With Southeast District Championship Victory

The Prince George's Community College Women's Basketball team defeated Dallas College – Cedar Valley, 76-56 on Saturday, February 26^th in the Southeast District Championship to advance to the NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship. The Lady Owls will travel to Rochester, Minnesota for the tournament which begins March 9^th and wraps up on Saturday, March 12^th.

Cedar Valley's Suns opened up the game with an immediate three-pointer but the Owls were quick to respond as they put up 23 points in the first period, compared to Cedar Valley's 14. The Owls extended their lead in the second, outpacing the Suns 17-12 to head into halftime with a 40-26 lead. Janiah Williams led all scorers at the break with 11 points and was already nearing a double-double with 8 rebounds. Vanessa Schwarzmann added 9 points while Tori Tolson and RaMyah Yearwood each had 4. Kelsey Vallair added 5, all coming in the second period. Tolson was forced to sit out some time as she had picked up 3 fouls by halftime.

Prince George's later extended their lead to as much as 23 points with less than a minute to go in the third period before heading into the final quarter with a 20-point, 59-39 lead. The Suns were able to cut into the Owls lead as Cedar Valley came to within 12 in the fourth but the Owls did enough from the free throw line to stay in front as they connected on 7 of 10 attempts from the charity stripe to hold onto a double-digit lead the remainder of the game.

The Suns were able to match the Owls 17 points in the final quarter but were outscored by Prince George's in every other quarter as Prince George's early lead proved to be too much to overcome for the Region 5 Champion. All five of the Owls starting lineup scored in double-figures with Williams leading the way with a 16-point, 17-rebound day. She also swatted 5 shots on the defensive side. Schwarzmann (15), Alicia Jones and Tolson (14), and Yearwood (12) rounded out the scoring for the starting five. Vallair finished with 5 points while Sonia Chofong recorded 5 minutes coming off the bench for Prince George's.

The Owls are one of eight district champions across the country which earns the team an automatic bid to the National Championship. For the first time in Division III history, four at-large selections will be chosen which will be announced live on the NJCAA Selection Show on Wednesday, March 2^nd at 3PM ET. Seeds 1-4 will earn a first-round bye and will begin play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 10^th while seeds 5-12 start in the first round on Wednesday, March 9^th.

The Owls last advanced to the National Championship in 2015 and were given the #8 seed. Prince George's lost in the first round to #1 seed Roxbury.

Owls head coach Devin May has already won two championships in his first year as head of the program and will look to continue his team's success in Minnesota next week. The Prince George's Community College Student Governance and Athletics Department will be holding a watch party of the selection show when it goes live on Wednesday at 3PM in the Dukes Student Center 1^st Floor Student Lounge. College students, staff, and faculty as well as community members are encouraged to join the Lady Owls at the watch party to help send the women's team off to Minnesota.