BANNER SEASON
Local graduates find success with college basketball teams
A number of local graduates found success with their college teams during the 2017-18 college basketball season, but only one has yet to see their season come to an end.
HOT SPRINGS Berniezha Tidwell
Highland Community College in Kansas is seeded third in this week’s
2018 National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Women’s Basketball Championship in Harrison. The
32-0 team is matched up in the first round with No. 14 seed Macomb Community College (25-6), from Michigan.
The two teams will open up the tournament with the first game at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in North Arkansas College’s Pioneer Pavilion. The NJCAA TV subscription service offers various plans for all live championship coverage.
NJCAA TV’s partnership with CBS Sports Digital makes all NJCAA championships available through College Sports Live. All NJCAA TV championship broadcasts are available online at http://www.njcaatv.com, as well as through NJCAA TV dedicated streaming applications on Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku. Fans can also download the new NJCAA TV mobile apps for iPhone and Android devices.
The Scotties feature 2015 Hot Springs graduate Berniezha Tidwell. The sophomore is the team’s second-leading scorer with 15.1 points per game to go along with 3.7 rebounds and almost three assists per game, second-most on the team.
Highland is the only remaining undefeated team in NJCAA Division II. A win in the first round would pit Highland against No. 6 seed Cape Fear Community College (27-5), from North Carolina, or No. 11 seed Kankakee Community College (23-7), from Illinois, at
6 p.m. on Wednesday. The tournament semifinals and finals will be held Friday and Saturday.
Exavian Christon
Louisiana Tech’s season ended March 8 with a 62-58 loss to Old Dominion (25-7) in the quarterfinals of the
2018 Conference USA Men’s Basketball Championship in Frisco, Texas. The first three losses for the Bulldogs (1716) in non-conference play to Alabama
(20-16), Stephen F. Austin (28-7) and Louisiana (27-7) came by a combined nine points.
The team’s leading scorer, sophomore Jalen Harris, asked for a release from the university at the holiday break and eventually transferred to Nevada. Another player in the Bulldogs’ rotation, junior center Joniah White, called an end to his career in February due to heart-related health issues.
True freshman Exavian Christon, a Hot Springs World Class High School graduate, started the first three games after Harris left the team and was one of only two players on the roster to appear in all 33 games this season. He finished the season averaging 4.8 points in 16.4 minutes per game. Christon reached double-figures three times and shot 88 percent from the free throw line.
Louisiana Tech will return a youthful roster for 2018-19. Jacobi Boykins, a
6-6 guard, led the team in scoring after Harris left the team and was the only senior on the roster.
Ashley Clayborn
Ashley Clayborn, a 2015 Hot Springs graduate, saw her junior season at Arkansas State (15-15) end in February after she underwent knee surgery. She appeared in nine games this season, which could allow the team to obtain a medical redshirt from the NCAA this summer. Clayborn transferred to Arkansas State in 2017 from Tyler Junior College in Texas. Arkansas State’s season ended on March 6 with a 79-68 loss to Appalachian State (8-23) in the first round of the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship in New Orleans.
Tiaunna Watkins
Tiaunna Watkins, alongside Tidwell and Clayborn, helped lead Hot Springs to a Class 5A state championship in their senior season in 2015. She redshirted this season as a junior at Southern Arkansas in Magnolia.
Southern Arkansas finished 9-19 overall and 8-14 in the Great American Conference. The Muleriders did not qualify for the GAC Women’s Basketball Championships tournament in Oklahoma.
Keke Hunter
Keke Hunter, a 2017 Hot Springs graduate, started in 30 games and played in all 31 this season as a freshman at Tyler Junior College (13-18). The Lady Apaches began the season 9-4 in the fall semester before losing the first seven games of January.
They finished with a conference record of 7-13 in NJCAA Division I Region XIV. Their season ended on March 7 with a 64-49 loss in the conference tournament to No. 2 seed Trinity Valley Community College (27-5), which plays tonight in the first round of the NJCAA Division 1 Women’s National Basketball Championship in Lubbock, Texas.
Hunter was tied for third on the team in scoring with 13.3 points per
game. She scored a season-high 29 points in an 89-61 win against Arkansas Baptist College (9-21) on Nov. 10. Her highest output in the spring semester was 25 points in an 86-70 win against Paris Junior College (11-19) on Feb. 17. Quindell Smith
North Arkansas College began the season 11-1 in the fall semester and finished 19-11 after a 109-89 loss to Arkansas State University Mid-South
(26-5) in West Memphis on March 3 in the NJCAA Division II Region II playoff. Mid-South is the No. 14 seed in this week’s NJCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship in Danville, Ill.
Smith played in five games. He is listed as the second-tallest player on the team at 6-7.
Trayvun Gordon
True freshman Trayvun Gordon, of Hot Springs, played in 25 games and earned two starts this season for Independence Community College
(18-13) in Kansas. He played one season for the Trojans after transferring from Little Rock Hall.
The Pirates were 14-12 in Division I of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Their season ended on March 4 with a 74-59 loss to Hutchinson Community College (286) in the NJCAA Division I Region VI tournament quarterfinals. Hutchinson will start play in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship on its home court Tuesday.
Paris Harris
Paris Harris, a 6-6 2017 graduate of Hot Springs, played in all 21 games and started 16 this season for Itawamba Community College (8-13) in Fulton, Miss. The Indians went 3-9 in Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges North Division play. Their season ended on Feb. 22 with an
83-70 loss to North Division champion Northwest Mississippi Community College (22-4).
Harris averaged 6.3 points and five rebounds, second-most on the team, in
22.2 minutes per game.
Trey Lenox
Abilene Christian (16-16) missed out on the 2018 Southland Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament in Katy, Texas, but accepted an invitation to the College Insider Tournament. The Wildcats lost, 80-73, in overtime in the first round to Drake (17-16), from the Missouri Valley Conference.
Trey Lenox, a 2016 graduate of Hot Springs, played two minutes in the season-ending loss. The 6-3 guard averaged almost six minutes in 29 games his sophomore season.
LAKESIDE
Lexi Tejcek
Henderson State (21-9) reached a number of milestones during the 201718 women’s basketball season. The Reddies made the GAC Women’s Basketball Championships tournament semifinal for the first time since the inception of the conference in 2011, won its first conference tournament game since 2007 and advanced to a conference tournament semifinal for the first time since 2006. The 21 wins was fourth-most in program history.
Their elimination of Ouachita Baptist, 66-50, in the first round of the GAC tournament marked the first time Henderson defeated the Tigers three times in one season in program history. The Battle of the Ravine series in women’s basketball dates back to 1972.
Lakeside graduate Lexi Tejcek appeared in seven games as a true freshman.
CUTTER MORNING STAR
Chris Babb
Chris Babb, a 2017 graduate of Cutter Morning Star High School, redshirted this season as a freshman at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul in Minnesota. He is redshirting this season as a freshman.
The Eagles went 14-13 overall and
11-5 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. They lost, 96-90, on Feb.
24 in the conference tournament final against Bethany Lutheran (20-9). The Vikings lost in the second round of the 2018 Division III Men’s Basketball Championship tournament.
MAGNET COVE
Eli Fisher
Hendrix College sophomore Eli Fisher, a graduate of Magnet Cove High School, played in 22 games this season after appearing in two games during the 2016-17 season. He averaged 6.4 points in 16 minutes per game.
The Warriors ended the regular season 5-20 overall and 3-11 in the Southern Athletic Association after a 115-112 loss to Rhodes College (13-13), but won their first two games in the SAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, 69-67 over No. 2 seed Sewanee (14-11) and 69-65 over No. 3 seed Oglethorpe (15-12).
Hendrix advanced to the final as the No. 7 seed, but fell, 88-78, to No. 8 seed Berry College (11-18). The Vikings were eliminated in the first round of the 2018 Division III Men’s Basketball Championship tournament.
MOUNTAIN PINE
Jordan Godwin
Williams Baptist College finished the season 13-16 overall after a 91-57 loss on March 1 to top-seeded Columbia College (28-6) in the first round of the 2018 American Midwest Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship. Columbia College claimed the regular season and conference tournament titles.
Sophomore Jordan Godwin, of Mountain Pine, played in 23 games and had five starts for the Lady Eagles.
MALVERN
Tiffany Murdock
Malvern alum Tiffany Murdock, a member of the Lady Leopards’ backto-back state championship teams, concluded her playing career this season with Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8-21). She played her first two seasons at Paris Junior College.
Murdock started and played four minutes in the Golden Lions’ season-ending 70-60 loss to Southern University (17-13) in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 Southwestern Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament in Baton Rouge, La. She appeared in 24 games her senior year. Raven Northcross-Baker
The leading scorer for Malvern in the 2014 state championship game, Raven Northcross-Baker, appeared in all 31 games this season for the Arkansas Razorbacks (13-18). She averaged
19.5 minutes per game, fifth-most on the team, often used by coach Mike Neighbors as the first player off of the bench in his first season as coach. She averaged 5.6 points per game.
Northcross-Baker transferred to Arkansas a year ago after two seasons at Chipola College in Florida. Arkansas defeated Vanderbilt (7-24), 88-76, in the opening game of the 2018 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament before losing to Texas A&M
(23-8) in the second round on March 1. Akasha Westbrook
Arkansas State (15-15) sorely missed its leading scorer in the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship tournament. The Red Wolves earned the eighth seed with a conference record of 10-8.
The No. 9 seed, Appalachian State
(8-23), ousted the Red Wolves, 79-68, without Malvern’s Akasha Westbrook, who missed the game due to injury. Westbrook was 11th in the conference with 13.4 points per game, 17th in rebounds at 5.2, sixth in field goal percentage at 48.1 percent, seventh in free throws at 79.7 percent, first in steals at
2.4 and 14th in minutes at 31.1 per game. Westbrook was voted to the AllSun Belt Conference Second Team as a redshirt junior.
Alivia Huell
Ouachita Baptist junior Alivia Huell, of Malvern, averaged 8.1 points in 20.5 points per game with five starts in her second season with the team. She transferred to Ouachita after two seasons with Little Rock.
The Tigers finished the season 14-15 overall and earned the sixth seed in the GAC Women’s Basketball Championships tournament with a conference record of 10-12. They were eliminated,
66-50, in the first round by rival Henderson State.
LAKE HAMILTON
Kori Bullard
Lake Hamilton High School alum Kori Bullard wrapped up another senior season with the Ouachita Baptist Tigers this month. She played in her final college basketball game on March 2 as the Tigers were eliminated, 66-50, in the first round of the GAC Women’s Basketball Championships tournament in Oklahoma by Henderson State.
Bullard led the team in rebounding with 5.3 per game to go along with six points. The team was 1-3 before she joined the team after finishing the volleyball season in November.
The College Sports Information Directors of America named Bullard to the Academic All-America Third Team last week. She was previously selected to the first team of the Academic All-American selections for volleyball. Larenz Nero
Lake Hamilton alum Larenz Nero played in 31 games, starting 20, for Labette Community College (16-17) in Parsons, Kan., this season as a true freshman. He scored the game-winner in a 71-69 win on Feb. 28 against fifth-seeded Hesston College (16-13) to send the Cardinals into the second round of the NJCAA Division II Region VI tournament.
Nero led the team with 17 points in the win. He played all 40 minutes, scored 15 points, had eight assists, grabbed six rebounds and made six steals in the semifinals as the Cardinals defeated top-seeded Johnson County Community College (17-14), 79-58.
No. 18 Highland Community College (25-7) held Nero to four points in an 83-65 win in the finals on March 7 at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas, to end Labette’s season and advance to the 2018 NJCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship this week in Danville, Ill.
JESSIEVILLE
Hunter Daley Arkansas-Monticello (19-12) earned the No. 6 seed in the GAC Men’s Basketball Championship tournament in Oklahoma with a conference record of 12-10. The Boll Weevils eliminated third-seeded East Central (15-12), 9786, in two overtimes before defeating second seed Northwestern Oklahoma State (22-7), 68-58, in the semifinals.
Top-seeded Southern Nazarene (273) defeated Monticello, 62-57, in the tournament final on March 4.
Hunter Daley, a 2016 graduate of Jessieville, averaged 5.5 minutes in 20 games for Monticello last season as a freshman, but did not play this season. Kellie Lampo
Harding’s women’s team began the season 6-12 overall and 2-8 in the Great American Conference after a 79-64 loss to Henderson State on Jan. 18 despite returning most of a squad that made the NCAA Division II Final Four the previous season. The Lady Bisons won 12 of their next 14 games behind a standout freshman season from Jessieville graduate Kellie Lampo.
Lampo averaged 9.8 points and 4.2 rebounds through the team’s first 12 games despite starting just one game and averaging less than 20 minutes. She started every game the rest of the season to lead Harding in scoring, 12.2 points; rebounding, 6.2; and field goal percentage, 48.4 percent.
The GAC selected Lampo as its Freshman of the Year on the eve of the GAC Women’s Basketball Championships tournament in Oklahoma. She was also named to the All-GAC Second Team.
Harding defeated No. 5 seed Southeastern Oklahoma State (13-15), 7363, in the first round and eliminated top-seeded Southwestern Oklahoma State (26-5), 78-63, in the second round. The Lady Bisons fell one game short of a trip to the national tournament, losing, 63-62, to Arkansas Tech (26-4) in the GAC final.