Every year, March means one thing on the sports calendar: March Madness. And this year, there might be some madness coming to Palos Hills.
The Moraine Valley basketball teams have been getting hot at the right time. Both teams started January undefeated with the men starting 6-0 before losing their past two games, while the women were at 9-0 for the month and have yet to lose a home game this season. The women are ranked No. 22 in the nation.
“We had a disadvantage early in the season,” women’s coach Delwyn Jones said. “We played a lot of teams that have great chemistry early because they had the whole summer wehre they worked together, and we’re just coming together.”
The women started the season 1-3 and have gone on a 21-game winning streak since then. They have seen significant improvement, surpassing last year’s record of 15-16 to reach 22-3 this season.
But that early skid helped the team become what it is today.
“We just needed a few games to get ourselves together,” Jones said. “We developed more chemistry, we learned our plays better, we were a lot more fluid offensively, and our team defense started to get better.”
The men, meanwhile, are close to matching last year’s win total of 15 in Kyle Huppe’s second year of coaching the Cyclones.
“It’s a testament to these guys and the maturity level that they have,” he said. “And experience that they have in other programs I think has really helped contribute.”
On the men’s side, some of the competition that could spoil the hopes of the Cyclones in the regional playoffs are top-ten ranked South Suburban College and Milwaukee Area Technical College, who both beat the Cyclones. Both of these losses show that there’s still some work to be done to get the Cyclones to a regional title.
Playing these tough games is all part of the success of understanding the region better and preparing for the playoffs.
“So these are teams we’re going to potentially see in the region tournament,” Huppe said. “If we’re going to get to the national tournament, I’d like to know what we’re up against by facing them at some point during the regular season.”
As for some of the players who have helped the team improve, Huppe points to his captains Reggie Strong, TJ Lee, Lawson Walker and Yousef Jared.
“I think those four are great vocal leaders,” he said.
And one of the x-factors of the team is Josh Lawson, who said that one of things he brings to the team is how he controls the game.
“I’m the point guard of the team, and I control the pace of the game on how fast we play, how slow we play,” he said. “And (I’m) someone that the team looks towards when we need some control of the game.”
One of the most improved players of the second semester is Ja’Ron Powell, who has been averaging around 14 points per game, Huppe said.
Powell’s secret? “Just staying in the gym and keep getting shots up,” he said.
The women will face previously ranked Rock Valley on Feb. 14. The Cyclones have beaten previously ranked Kankakee Community College and College of Lake County. However, the team lost to now No. 5 Parkland College 84-68 in the second game of the season.
Another thing that the women must look out for is the parity. Jones sees a hungry region ready to knock off the Cyclones.
“For me in the last couple of years, the region has been much deeper than it’s ever been,” he said. “I’ve been coaching for 26 years, and I remember us having like a good five or six great teams at the top and then the rest of the games were not very tough. But now you have teams that are at the bottom beating teams that are at the top.
“Every game that we play, it’s a team that can beat you on the right night, so you have to come out prepared.”
Sophomore forward Jadea Johnson is averaging 22.2 points per game. She is trying to make sure she stays focused.
“I think the main thing is not being big-headed while on the winning streak,” she said, “because we know that we are the target and everyone is coming to beat us.”
Shakila Brownlow is second in points per game at 14.2. She emphasizes the importance of staying on course after the team’s success in December and January.
“We’ve just got to strive to keep getting better every day and just keep working hard, whether that’s out-hustling people, hitting our shots, making our layups, or getting back on defense,” she said. “We just keep striving to be great to win because we know we can win it all, and we want to win it all.”
The women’s team is also experienced, with 10 sophomores including center Mikayla Summey, who is one of the tallest members of the team at 6’1″.
“The coaches told me that I’ve helped a lot with rebounding for sure offensively and defensively,” she said. “And on the defense end, also my height helps with blocking as well. And just pulling down boards has helped the team a lot.”
Summey said that being accepted as a transfer by her follow sophomores and the team as a whole has meant a lot.
“I know some of us, including myself, transferred here for our sophomore year and even though we transferred, we still are really included on the team,” she said.
With how the National Junior College Athletic Association sets up its playoffs, a team must win its district to make it to the big dance. The men have not made it to the national bracket since going back-to-back in 2012 and 2013. The women have had less of a drought, last making it in 2019.
Making it to the national bracket for the first time in 13 years is important for the men’s players and their futures.
“‘Being able to get to the tournament means that they’re going to be in front of more four-year coaches, which means there’s more opportunities for them to go on and continue playing once they leave here and continue their athletic journey,” Huppe said.
The NJCAA Region 4 playoffs start on Feb. 25 with the women’s tournament tipping off at the highest-seeded college sites. That likely will mean a home game for the women. The tournament then moves to Rock Valley College in Rockford for the semifinals Feb. 28-March 1 and the championship on March 7.
The winner of the region will then move on to the National Championship bracket March 16-21 in Danville, Illinois, for the men and in Hickory, North Carolina for the women.
Velocity 
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