St. Clair County Community College (SC4) will play host to eight of the top junior college women’s basketball teams in the country Nov. 14, 15 and 16 for the inaugural Thumbcoast Tip-Off Basketball Tournament.
A total of 12 games will be played at the SC4 Fieldhouse Thursday through Saturday, featuring six teams ranked in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II rankings, and another that is receiving votes.
Games will be played at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. The championship game will be at 6 p.m. on Saturday, following placement games at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
No. 21 SC4, led by coach Mike Groulx, is among those ranked teams, joined by No. 3 Mesa Community College, No. 4 CCBC Essex, No. 7 Lake Land College, No. 11 Mid Michigan College and No. 18 Harcum College. Lansing Community College is also receiving votes.
Mesa placed third at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament a year ago, while CCBC Essex was fourth and Harcum was eighth. Mid-Michigan and Lake Land also qualified for the 2024 national tournament.
“SC4 provides a college experience in downtown Port Huron,” said SC4 President Kirk Kramer. “Hosting an elite Women’s college basketball tournament is part of providing an all-around college life and atmosphere for students and residents. Our Skippers team will have an opportunity to compete against the best competition in the country and our fans have an opportunity to witness first-hand the quality level of talent resident in community colleges. Teams and fans from across the country will see for themselves what we appreciate about our area.”
Tickets are $10 per day, or $25 for a three-day pass, and can be purchased in advance at sc4skippers.com/fanzone/ticketing.
On top of the exciting on-court action, women’s basketball Hall of Famer Juliene Brazinski Simpson will be on hand to perform ceremonial jump balls prior to games and address the coaches and athletes. Brazinski Simpson was a co-captain on the 1976 US Olympic Women’s Basketball Team, which won a silver medal. She also won a gold medal with the US National Team at the 1975 Pan Am Games.
The SC4 Fieldhouse is a state-of-the-art athletic facility located on SC4’s campus, nestled between Downtown Port Huron and the Black River. SC4 has been providing high quality, affordable education in St. Clair County for more than 100 years.
The Thumbcoast Tip-Off is presented by SC4 along with Discover the Blue, and is sponsored by McLaren Port Huron, LiUNA Local 1075, SEMCO Energy, Troy Cleaners, DoubleTree Port Huron, Standard Office Supply, Buffalo Wild Wings, All-Star Services, ThumbCoast Realty, LLC, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, Earl Smith Distributing Co., 4Sports, Body Armor and Casey’s.
Thumbcoast Tip-Off Schedule
Thursday:
- Game 1: Edison State vs. Lake Land, 1 p.m.
- Game 2: Lansing vs. CCBC Essex, 3 p.m.
- Game 3: Mid-Michigan vs. Mesa, 5 p.m.
- Game 4: SC4 vs. Harcum
Friday:
- Game 5: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 1 p.m.
- Game 6: Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 3 p.m.
- Game 7: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 5 p.m.
- Game 8: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 7 p.m.
Saturday:
- Seventh-Place Game: Loser of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 6, noon
- Fifth-Place Game: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6, 2 p.m.
- Third-Place Game: Loser of Game 7 vs. Loser of Game 8, 4 p.m.
- Championship Game: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 6 p.m.
Thumbcoast Tip-Off Team Profiles
St. Clair County Community College
- Location: Port Huron, Mich.
- Ranking: 21
- Conference: Michigan Community College Athletic Association
- Coach: Mike Groulx
- Mascot: Skippers
CCBC Essex
- Location: Rossville, Md.
- Ranking: 4
- Conference: Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference
- Coach: Mike Seney
- Mascot: Knights
Edison State Community College
- Location: Piqua, Ohio
- Ranking: NR
- Conference: Ohio Community College Athletic Conference
- Coach: Tim McMahon
- Mascot: Chargers
Harcum College
- Location: Bryn Mawr, Pa.
- Ranking: 18
- Conference: Eastern Pennsylvania Athletic Conference
- Coach: Greg Horton
- Mascot: Bears
Lake Land College
- Location: Mattoon, Ill.
- Ranking: 7
- Conference: Region 24
- Coach: David Johnson
- Mascot: Lakers
Lansing Community College
- Location: Lansing, Mich.
- Ranking: Others receiving votes
- Conference: Michigan Community College Athletic Association
- Coach: Megan Hudson
- Mascot: Stars
Mesa Community College
- Location: Mesa, Az.
- Ranking: 3
- Conference: Arizona Community College Athletic Conference
- Coach: Kori Stephenson
- Mascot: Thunderbirds
Mid-Michigan College
- Location: Harrison, Mich.
- Ranking: 11
- Conference: Michigan Community College Athletic Association
- Coach: Lance Maney
- Mascot: Lakers
For media inquiries, please contact Sarah Rutallie, Chief of Staff/Senior Vice President, SC4, at srutallie@sc4.edu
