The Tyler Junior College Lady Apaches were in Lubbock last night at RIP Griffin Center playing for a NJCAA DI Women's Championship against the number three ranked Georgia Highlands. Behind Nadechka Laccen's 26 points and Deborah Ogayemi's 16 rebounds, the Lady Apaches are national champions.

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It started out slow for the Lady Apaches as they were down by three points after the first quarter. The Apache defense stepped up, followed by the offense, to go into half time leading 42-39. The lady Apaches had a dominant third quarter out scoring the Chargers 23-13. It was a high scoring fourth quarter with the Lady Apaches winning the NJCAA National Championship with a final score of 92-80.

Deborah Ogayemi was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Head coach Trenia Tillis-Hoard has been leading the Lady Apaches since 2001. This is their second appearance in the national title game under Tillis-Hoard with this win being her first championship. The Lady Apaches won their first championship in 2000 under head coach Lee Ann Riley.

Congratulations to the TJC Lady Apaches on their huge win. Watch highlights from the championship game below:

Original Story

March Madness is here. Its the time of year when the best men's and women's basketball programs compete in their respective tournaments for a chance to hoist a championship trophy. While NCAA men's basketball is getting a majority of the attention right now (and our busted brackets become paper airplanes like mine), an East Texas junior college is on the cusp of winning a national championship.

The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) has been holding the division 1 women's basketball tournament over the last five days. In the bracket of 24 teams, Trinity Valley Community College in Athens (Trinity Valley) and Tyler Junior College in Tyler (TJC) were the East Texas schools vying for a national championship. Trinity Valley made it into the Elite 8 but were defeated by Georgia Highlands, 84-73.

The TJC Lady Apaches, however, have made their way through the tournament and into the championship game against Georgia Highlands. To get to this point, the Lady Apaches defeated Chipola, 67-65, in the first round, then the number one seeded Three Rivers, 70-42. This got TJC into the Elite 8 against Arizona Western who they defeated, 79-67, followed by a Final Four victory over Western Nebraska, 88-76.

With that victory, TJC Lady Apaches will play Georgia Highlands at 7 p.m. tonight (March 21) at RIP Griffin Center in Lubbock. It looks like you can watch the game through njcaa.org. Go to THIS LINK, pay $5 and you'll be able to cheer on the Lady Apaches during the championship game.

It's been a great year for the Lady Apaches, especially for their coach, Trenia Tillis-Hoard. She is in her 22nd season as head coach and got her 500th win earlier this season. If they can win tonight, it will be Tillis-Hoard's first championship at TJC.

Good luck to the TJC Lady Apaches tonight. Check out highlights from last night's game (March 20) against Western Nebraska below.

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