Kirkwood women’s basketball relying on depth entering regional tournament

CEDAR RAPIDS — As postseason play begins, the Kirkwood Community College women’s basketball has been handed a bit of a mixed bag.

The good: The NJCAA Division II third-ranked Eagles (26-2) enter regional tournament play Wednesday at home against Ellsworth Community College riding an eight-game winning streak.

The bad: The defending national champions won’t have sophomore starting point guard Naya Haymon.

“We lost our point guard,” Kirkwood Coach Kim Muhl said. “Naya Haymon got an ACL up at Iowa Lakes (Feb. 25).

“We’re as upbeat as we can be. But you hate to lose a kid that’s been starting for you for two years.”

Haymon hadn’t been a huge scoring factor for the Eagles this season, averaging 2.7 points per game, but she was second in assists and her experience as a returning member of last year’s national championship team is something the Eagles will miss.

“It was a tough loss,” Muhl said. “The sophomores have taken it pretty well. We’ve just got to move forward.”

Fortunately for Kirkwood, its roster is equipped with depth. Sophomore guard Tasia Jordan is the only player averaging double-figures (15.6 ppg) on a team that averages 76.1 per game.

“There are kids that can step up on our team and play at a higher level and make a big difference,” Muhl said.

As for Haymon’s replacements …

“We kind of have a two-headed monster now,” Muhl said. “Alycia (Patterson) is going to move into the starting position. Zhkayla Evans will have to come in and be the next point guard in line.”

Patterson, a sophomore, also was a key member of last year’s national title team and averaged 6.1 points per game. She’s upped her average to 8 this season.

Evans, a freshman, averages 4.2 points per game, shooting 47 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point distance.

“They’ve been through injuries with other kids,” Muhl said. “It’s kind of the way it is in sports right now. That’s kind of what you do. The next person’s got to play.”

Onto the good.

By earning the top seed, Kirkwood will have home-court advantage throughout the regional tournament.

“We wanted to get the No. 1 seed to play at home,” Muhl said. “We did. Now, you’ve just got to play one at a time and hope you play at a high level.”

Kirkwood is 13-0 at home this season.

Muhl is thankful to play all regional games in Johnson Hall. He expects this year’s tournament to be highly competitive.

“I think it’s going to be hard enough to get out of Iowa this year,” Muhl said. “I just think there’s a lot of parity in our league right now, one through six.

“The regional tournament is the regional tournament. You play these teams twice. People know what you’re going to do, so now you just have to go play.”