Mia Simpson was amazing and sent Morton College dancing to the NJCAA Division II national tournament for a third straight year with a 96-68 win over host Rock Valley in the Region IV title game Saturday in Rockford. The 2022 national runner-up Panthers are now 31-0 and will learn who they play this week at nationals, which runs March 21 to 25 in Port Huron, Michigan. 

Simpson scored a career-high 38 points, making 18 of 24 field goals to earn the Region IV tournament MVP honors. She also notched her 23rd double-double of the season with 11 rebounds, seven coming on the offensive end.

"Pretty unbelievable," Morton College head coach Jason Nichols said. "She put on quite a show. She's a special player who put on quite a show tonight."

"There's no words for it," added Morton College sophomore Franchesca Metz, who has been part of all three Panther national championship trips. "She's a huge part of what we do."

While Rock Valley came into the game as the nation's No. 9 team, they only had five players due to an incident late in the Region IV semfinals against Kankakee. But the Panthers knew Rock Valley wasn't going to roll over.

"It's not like we let (our team) them relax," Nichols said. "All you need is five to play. They made some adjustments and did some things differently, but we still ended up with 96."

Morton College led 22-17 at the quarter. Rock Valley tied it at 26 with 7:41 left in the second quarter. The Panthers scored the last seven points of the half to go up 50-36. While Rock Valley continued to battle, the Panthers started pulling away as Simpson exploded for 15 points in the third quarter, more than doubling her first-half total of 13.

"We just did what we do," Simpson said. "We've got to play the way we play, no matter the opponent. We have to stay disciplined and stay focused."

Morton College had three players in double figures. Claire Hyde added 21 points and Kaylen Evans, 13. The Panthers shot 53.2 percent for the game, making 20 of 34 attempts for 58.8 percent in the second half. Jalyssa Carrasco (eight points, six steals, four assists), Metz (seven points, seven rebounds, five assists) and Gianine Boado (six points, four rebounds) also contributed.