Kirkwood Womens Basketball

Kirkwood women seek 7th national title

The numbers are phenomenal and have cemented Kim Muhl's spot as one of the most successful women's basketball coaches of all time.

Six national titles. Sixteen trips to the national tournament. A career record of 762-140. A winning percentage of 84.5 over 26 campaigns. An incredible streak of 106 straight wins in conference games.

Muhl is such a humble guy that you'd never know any of these things if you casually bumped into him at Kirkwood Community College, but the man is a walking Hall of Famer.

Muhl and the Eagles are back in the NJCAA Division II national tournament this week in Overland Park, Kan. The sixth-ranked Eagles (28-5) play North Arkansas (20-9) in the opening round Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Kirkwood is not favored to win the title, but the Eagles are seeded No. 4 in the 16-team event and are definitely talented enough to make a long run. Parkland is seeded No. 1 and ranked No. 1, so everyone is chasing them.

The Eagles won their first national title in 1997 and claimed their second in 2002. They spent the next four years finishing 4th, 3rd, 4th and 2nd before capturing four straight crowns in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 with an unprecedented four-peat.

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Kirkwood women draw North Arkansas

The Kirkwood women's basketball team will play North Arkansas in the opening round of the NJCAA Division II national tournament on Wednesday, March 18 at 11 a.m. in Overland Park, Kan.

The Eagles (28-5) have been seeded No. 4 in the 16-team tournament. North Arkansas was seeded 13th.

Kirkwood is making its 16th trip to the national tournament under Coach Kim Muhl. The Eagles have won six national titles.

If Kirkwood wins Wednesday, it would face Monroe Community College or Waubonsee on Thursday, March 19 at 8 p.m. The semifinals are Friday, March 20 and the finals are scheduled for Saturday, March 21.

40TH NJCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT
OPENING ROUND
Tuesday, March 17

Owens vs Union County, 9 a.m.
South Suburban vs Monroe College, 11 a.m.
Guilford Tech vs Schoolcraft, 1 p.m.
Parkland vs Phoenix, 3 p.m.
Johnson County vs Southeast, 6 p.m.
Lake Michigan vs Chesapeake, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, March 18

Kirkwood vs North Arkansas, 11 a.m.
Monroe Community College vs Waubonsee, 1 p.m.

7 Kirkwood women named All-Region

Seven members of the Kirkwood women's basketball team have been named to the All-Region squad for 2015.

Anna Martensen, Cassidy Clark and Kirsten Larson were named to the first team. Ariel Sneed, Taylor Silva and Tyra Polite were selected for the second team. Peyton Bockholt made the third team.

Kirkwood won the ICCAC regular-season title and also won the Region XI tournament. The Eagles (28-5) will play in the NJCAA Division II national tournament next week in Overland Park, Kan.

Kirkwood women earn trip to nationals

Taylor Silva was so incredibly happy Saturday that she cried for several minutes after the Kirkwood Eagles beat NIACC for the regional title and earned a spot in the junior college national tournament.

Silva had just about composed herself when they announced she had been named the Most Valuable Player of the Region XI tournament. That brought more tears and more smiles for the 5-foot-5 sophomore from Bellevue, Neb.

"I wasn't expecting it, nor did I think it would happen," Silva said after collecting her MVP award. "It was pretty exciting. I was expecting somebody else to win it."

The seventh-ranked Eagles had plenty of heroes in their 78-67 victory over sixth-ranked NIACC, but Silva was in the thick of things all day with 13 points, five rebounds, five assists, four steals, two key 3-pointers and even a blocked shot.

It was a tight game all the way until Kirkwood pulled away at the end. And when the final horn sounded, the tears began to flow for Silva and her teammates as the Eagles (28-5) earned a spot in the NJCAA Division II national tournament that will be held in Overland Park (Kan.) from March 17-21.

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