Holmes and Jones to battle in NJCAA semifinals Friday

TUCSON, Ariz. --- It's an all-Mississippi battle in one of the NJCAA Division II semifinals as the No. 1 seeded Holmes Community College Lady Bulldogs face the No. 4 seeded Jones College Bobcats on Friday at 11 a.m. CST. The winner moves on to the NJCAA Tournament finals on Saturday.

After the first semifinal, No. 2 Phoenix will play No. 3 Northwest Mississippi in the other semifinal. Holmes came into the Tournament as the No. 1 seed, Jones No. 6, Northwest No. 4 and Phoenix No. 2. After pool play, Holmes was No. 1, Phoenix No. 2, Northwest No. 3 and Jones No. 4. Having Holmes, Jones and Northwest in the semifinals, it makes it the first time Mississippi has had three teams in the semifinals of the Division II Tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs, 17-1-3 overall, advanced to the finals after advancing over Schoolcraft on penalty kicks on Wednesday after tying at three in regulation and two overtimes. Holmes defeated Cape Fear to open pool play on Monday, 6-1. The Bobcats, 13-2-2, picked up a pool play win over CCBC Essex, 3-0, on Tuesday and Heartland, 2-1, on Wednesday. Holmes and Jones squared off during the regular season on the Ridgeland Campus, and Holmes won 1-0 in overtime.

At this point, the Lady Bulldogs have 87 goals averaging four goals per contest and have 273 shots on goal and 493 shots. Brianna Lopez leads the Lady Bulldogs in goals scored with 15. Callie McKinney has 13, Jaelyn Hanson and Jaycelyn Russ each have 11, Tailynn Remmel has nine goals and Darian Blackburn has eight goals.

Lopez leads the Lady Bulldogs in assists with 16 while Remmel and Russ each have six while Hanson has five, and McKinney, Kaci Craft and Olivia Deslatte have four.

Jordan Bertschler and Karly Murphy have split time in goal for the Lady Bulldogs. Bertschler has played 835 minutes and has 37 saves while Murphy has 41 saves in 910 minutes. They each played a part in the 14 shutouts on the season and have given up 11 goals this season.

At this point, the Bobcats have 57 goals averaging over three goals per contest. Poppy Binding leads with 13 goals while Leahmae Keogh has 12 and Izzie Scott has nine.

Makenna Yarrow and Danae Fowler have split time in goal with Yarrow playing the majority of the minutes. They have given up seven goals on the season and have five shutouts.

The other semifinal features Northwest Mississippi Community College and Phoenix at 12:30 p.m. The national championship will be played on Saturday at 12 p.m.

Fans can watch the matches at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/njcaa/. Cost is $10 per match, $25 for the Women's Division II Tournament or $100 for all NJCAA National Championships.