Thief River Falls, MN - The RCTC Yellowjackets claimed the North Plains District B title and secured a berth in the NJCAA National Championships with a come from behind 78-65 win over the host Northland Pioneers on Sunday.  The #1 ranked Jackets along with Rochester MN Sports will host the National Championships beginning on March 12th at the Rochester Regional Sports Center.  RCTC will now await their seed to be announced on Wednesday, March 5th.

In the title game the Pioneers got out of the gate quickly taking a 16-5 lead on the Jackets and lead 25-18 after one period and 39-35 at the half.  Period three proved to be decisive as the Jackets outscored the Pioneers 26-15 and lead 61-44 heading into the final period.  The RCTC defense stood tall down the stretch holding Northland to only 11 points in the fourth quarter to claim the title 78-65.

Both teams shot the ball well throughout as RCTC finished the game shooting 49% from the floor, while Northland shot 47%. As it has been all season the Jacket defense was critical as RCTC forced 26 Pioneer turnovers and had 17 steals.  Northland on the other hand only had three steals and the jackets turned the ball over 15 times.

RCTC's Macaya Copeland scored 32 points and was named tournament Most Valuable Player.  The sophomore was 14-31 from the floor and added 4 assists and 7 steals.  Kara Goetzinger had a big game with 19 points on 9-12 shooting and added 5 rebounds, and assist, and a block.  Nyomi Crushshon had 9 points, while Allana Bates added 7.  Cassidy Shute despite only 2 points played a big role with a game high 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 steals.

The Jackets are very likely going to be the #1 seed on their home floor for the NJCAA National Tournament.  The tournament is likely to feature four teams from Minnesota, as Anoka-Ramsey won the North Plains A District title to secure an automatic berth, while #2 MN West and #3 Northland are likely to receive at-large berths into the tournament.