No. 4 CCBC Essex rallies for semifinal win over No. 6 Lake Land at SC4 ThumbCoast Tip-Off

Written by: Paul Costanzo

PORT HURON, Mich. -- The CCBC Essex women's basketball team was forced to play outside its comfort zone Friday, but the fourth-ranked Knights still found a way to win a 68-58 slugfest against No. 6 Lake Land College in the semifinals of the inaugural SC4 Thumbcoast Tip-Off at St. Clair County Community College.

Essex came into Friday's game averaging 101.2 points per game on the season, but struggled to push the game into its usual pace or break down a tough Lake Land defense. When it mattered most, however, the Knights got the job done.

"They're not the No. 6 team in the country for no reason," Essex coach Mike Seney said. "They play a certain style, they have a great coach, a Hall of Fame coach. (Lake Land coach David Johnson) is one of the best juco coaches in America. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. They didn't have their best game yesterday and still won, so I knew they were going to come out here and play hard, and they did. They had a great gameplan, we missed a ton of shots. It felt like the entire game we were stuck in mud. And that's the way they wanted us to play, they wanted us to slow it down and make it an ugly game. That's a testament to them and the team that they are. I felt like if we just kept our foot to the pedal, we'd break through, and we did in the fourth quarter."

Essex (Rossville, Md.) advances to the first ever Thumbcoast Tip-Off championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday against either No. 3 Mesa (Ariz.) Community College or No. 22 Harcum College (Bryn Mawr, Penn.). Lake Land (Mattoon, Ill.) will play the loser of the Mesa vs. Harcum game at 4 p.m. in the third-place game. Both games will be played at the SC4 Fieldhouse.

Paige Smith led Essex with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Gissel "Gigi" Gamble had 17 points. Ationique Auston added 11 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Knights.

Lake Land was led Kaylee Niebrugee and Charleece Davis who each scored 16 points. Niebrugee added six rebounds. Sydney Richards had eight points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers.

"Both teams played hard," Johnson said. "It was kind of a game of spurts in the second half. We controlled the second quarter pretty well. The second half, we had a spurt to finish the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter, I don't think we followed our scout quite as good as we had in the first few quarters. I don't know, maybe we got a little tired, and tiredness shows up mentally before it shows up physically, and we kind of made a couple mistakes with our scout. But great effort."

Lake Land led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter, taking a 51-41 lead with 8:12 to play. But Essex responded with a 15-0 run to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

"Honestly, it started with the bench," Gamble said. "Also, the coach telling us, 'This game isn't over, so we have to keep our energy and stick together.' That's what really brought us together, and we played good ball."

No. 4 CCBC Essex 68, No. 6 Lake Land 58 (Box Score)

The Thumbcoast Tip-Off is presented by SC4 along with Discover the Blue, and is sponsored by McLaren Port Huron, LiUNA Local 1075, SEMCO Energy, Troy Cleaners, DoubleTree Port Huron, Standard Office Supply, Buffalo Wild Wings, All-Star Services, ThumbCoast Realty, LLC, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, Earl Smith Distributing Co., 4Sports, Body Armor and Casey's.

St Clair County Community College (SC4) was founded in 1923 and is the only public higher education institution in the thumb of Michigan. SC4 is a comprehensive community college that provides certificates and degrees for employable skills and college credits that can be transferred to a four-year college or university. The college provides collegiate arts and athletics for the area and has been an asset for students and the Port Huron community for over one hundred years.  

For media inquiries, please contact Sarah Rutallie, Chief of Staff/Senior Vice President, SC4, at srutallie@sc4.edu

Thumb Coast Tip Off Results/Schedule

Thursday:

• Game 1: Lake Land 64, Edison State 58
• Game 2: CCBC Essex 90, Lansing 73
• Game 3: Mesa 64, Mid Michigan 56
• Game 4: Harcum 64, SC4 61

Friday:

• Game 5: Lansing 79, Edison State 52
• Game 6: SC4 85, Mid Michigan 84
• Game 7: CCBC Essex 68, Lake Land 58
• Game 8: Mesa vs. Harcum, 7 p.m.

Saturday:

• Seventh-Place Game: Edison State vs. Mid Michigan, noon
• Fifth-Place Game: Lansing vs. SC4, 2 p.m.
• Third-Place Game: Lake Land vs. Loser of Game 8, 4 p.m.
• Championship Game: CCBC Essex vs. Winner of Game 8, 6 p.m.