Our 17-12 Golden Eagles Women’s Basketball team went into Madison, Wisconsin to begin
the Region IV semifinal playoff bracket. They recently beat Madison Community College on Tuesday to win their eighth NC4 Division Title in a row. RVC was seeded no. 1 for this bracket, even though other teams may have had a better record. To clarify, RVC plays in the NJCAA DIII conference, but the Golden Eagles spent the first half playing mainly opponents in DII and DI programs. After playing tough, character building competition, they went into their own conference schedule and finished 13-1 on the season.
After taking the shoot around the ladies went into the locker room for the pre-game rally. The main points was to execute the plays to the best of their ability and to force the tempo, because their opponent Elgin Community 
College doesn’t have the first depth of players as RVC has, so pushing the pace and wearing them out early is key.
The first half went off as Coach Opat and Coach Morris would expect, everyone finished their shots, played solid defense, and the bench contributed in relief effort. All these things factored into RVC having a 20 point lead at the half. As the score was 42-22. Their FG and 3 Pt percentages were just under 40%.
At halftime Coach Opat and Morris sat to game plan for the second half and you could hear the ladies trying to hype each other up on the locker room. When the coaches 
entered the room Opat went over team defense, and to play two good halves. “They’re making good adjustments, don’t let them beat you,” Coach Opat pointed out. They then huddled up and ran back out on the court.
The second half was all about keeping the pace and not getting beat. The 3rd quarter saw ECC put up 25 points (the highest of the game) and RVC with 23 points. Clearly both offenses were working, but defense waned. There weren’t as many contested shots in the third, because the shooting on both sides had a little more room to take shots than in the first half. Again this is the playoffs and a victory isn’t just handed out like candy.
After a couple of timeout to adjust and recalibrate the Golden Eagles, the fourth quarter 
went by smoothly, outscoring ECC by 20-10 and shutting the game down. It would’ve looked even better if ECC didn’t make 2 last-minute 3 pointers, but the game was already out of reach. Contested shots, some blocks, and tight press was on display, while the offense took their shots efficiently and quickly to rack up the points. As the buzzer sounded RVC won over ECC 85-57, to move onto the Region IV Championship Game!
The ladies lined up to give ECC high-fives, and the ran to center court for a quick pow-wow. The executed the game plan and there’s room for important, but a win is a win. The team went into the locker room and Coach Opat
and Coach Morris congratulated them, and went over what they saw. “It was a good win, but we have to play better the whole game! Lights out tomorrow,” said Coach Opat. It was time them to gather everyone’s stuff, grab a snack, and scout the Joliet Community College versus Madison Community College game. For whoever wins faces RVC Sunday at 1 P.M.
One note is that the bench productivity in this game was a big source of encouragement. No. 15 Emily Cox scored 15 points and no. 11 Paige Wogen scored 12 points off the bench. It’s a solid point to know that when substitutions come into play that they do at a high level and give as they have been all year. This can be the
difference makers in a game is whose bench can outperform the other. As we will most likely see in Sunday’s game this concept more vivid.
RVC is really good on their defensive play contesting shots and being okay with playing a close physical game. There were not a lot times that ECC waltz right into the paint without encountering some sort of defense at their run. RVC plays to their strength well by communicating who to set up and who to press. There was a few instances where no. 3 Madi Hecox, who can run really fast by the way, would run down and help the team set up defense for the best high-low defense needed in the specific run that Elgin was looking for.
Also this team is just fun to watch. Their bench is outstandingly vocal almost throughout the game regardless of the score, calling back at plays, cheering on a score or big defensive play, and having the I-got-your-back mentality during timeouts. Watching no. 10 Jessie Schiro run the offense, by setting up the play, or calling the point. The teammates on the floor good at cycling though the court to get an open shot or to open up a pick and roll play. These Golden Eagles
are fun to cheer on, especially with all the parents attending the game.
Joliet v. Madison was the game to be scouted by RVC, and this game was a nail-biter to the end. outside of the initials hot start Madison had, Joliet caught right back up and for the rest of the game the lead may have never been over four to the end. Back and forth they would score, and it was very tense just to watch, and JCC beat MCC 74-69 when Madison couldn’t capitalize when they had the ball and then fouls ended up drowning them. RVC beat JCC twice this season, but the second game JCC had some injuries to their players, so we’ll see Sunday if RVC will bring their streak to 3.
The winner of this game will play at RVC Saturday for the District Championship Game. To remind everyone, the National Championship Game will be hosted by RVC. The road to the championship runs first through our defending champs.
#OwnIt #RockOn
