Rockford, IL: Rock Valley College hosted the 1^st annual Martin Luther King Classic on the campus of Rock Valley College with teams from William Penn University, Highland Community College, Moberly Area Community College and the Golden Eagles would round out the field.

Friday night would see Highland Community College match up against William Penn in the 5pm game in which Penn would come away with the victory 61-58. "It was a solid well-played game to start the evening off. I feel like the close intense game set the tone for our game against Moberly." Stated Coach Darryl Watkins

With the 7pm game #21 NJCAA DI Moberly would face off against #11 NJCAA DII Rock Valley in the game of the classic. In the first match up between these two teams back in November Moberly would come away with a 88-54 win over the Golden Eagles. But this time around would be a completely different story. In what felt like a NJCAA National Tournament environment both teams did not disappoint in this marque match-up. The Golden Eagles would put together an early 8-2 run against the Greyhounds to take an early 16-10 lead with 2 minutes left in the first quarter before Moberly would end the first quarter with an 11-0 run of their own to recapture the lead 17-16 to close out the first quarter. "We are a completely different team then what we were back in November. We are executing our offense better and defending the basketball at a higher level." Stated Watkins

The Greyhounds and Golden Eagles would battle the entire second half exchanging the lead multiple times before with 4:53 left on the clock score knotted up at 55 Elli Teubert would hit a transition 3pt shot to Rock Valley the lead, before ultimately falling to Moberly's final push of a 7-0 run to end the game. "We competed that was the type of environment you want to play in. This game made both teams better." Stated Watkins

Leaders from the game were Elli Teubert with a game high 20 points. Camron Blank finished with 17 points 10 rebounds, Nevaeh Hughes would round out double digit scoring for the Golden Eagles with 11 points and 5 rebounds. McKenna Williams missed double figures with 8 points and 9 rebounds.

Saturday would be a great day of basketball as well, with the Highland Cougars taking on Moberly in game one of the day in which Moberly would take home the victory 92-48. Highland would fall to 0-2 in the classic and 4-11 on the year while Moberly would move to 2-0 in the MLK Classic and 16-2 overall.

Saturday would see the Golden Eagles get back in the win column with a victory over William Penn JV 104-38. This would be the sixth time in which RVC has eclipsed 100 points on the scoreboard. With this victory Rock Valley would finish the MLK Classic with a 1-1 record and move to 15-5 on the year. While Penn JV would finish the event with a 1-1 record.
Camron Blank would lead the Golden Eagles with 20 points 13 rebounds. Also reaching double figures would be Bre'Najah Davis with 15 points, 10 rebounds, Emily Rich with 11 points, Carly LaMay with 10 points, 5 assists, and Tatym Coe with 10 points and 3 assist.
 
Rock Valley College is currently the 11^th ranked team in the recent NJCAA DII women's basketball National Poll.
Week 9 - January 17 2023

2022 NJCAA DII Women's Basketball Rankings | Week 9 - 01-17-23
	Place		Team	Record	Points	First Place Votes	Perv. Ranking
	1		CCBC Essex	17-0	140	9	1
	2		Morton	16-0	133	0	2
	3		Kirkwood	16-1	126	0	3
	4		Johnson County	16-0	119	0	4
	5		Mesa	13-3	112	0	6
	6		Schoolcraft	10-0	105	0	7
	7		Illinois Central	11-5	98	0	8
	8		Labette	12-3	91	0	9
	9		Lake Land	14-3	84	0	10
	10		Iowa Western	13-3	77	0	5
	11		Rock Valley	15-5	70	0	11
	12		Pima	13-4	63	0	12
	13		Parkland	15-1	56	0	13
	14		Harcum	17-1	49	0	14
	15		Bryant and Stratton (WI)	14-5	42	0	15
	16		Richard Bland	14-0	35	0	16
	17		Southern Arkansas University Tech	10-2	28	0	17
	18		Niagara County	16-2	21	0	18
	19		North Central Missouri	12-4	14	0	19
	20		Union	12-3	3	0	20

Receiving Votes: North Iowa Area, Oakton, Jackson, Lincoln Land

 
UP NEXT
RVC will host nationally ranked #15 Bryant and Stratton on Wednesday 1/18/2023 at 5pm in what will be a key Region IV basketball game for seeding purposes.