NMJC (WBB) Set to Play Weatherford in Region V Tournament Opener
The T-Birds finished the regular season with a 27-2 (12-2) record to share the conference championship with South Plains College 24-3 (12-2). The conference losses were to South Plains on the road and Midland at home.
The Thunderbirds have won the WJCAC in back-to-back years and are coming off their 10th WJCAC title. The win on Thursday, March 6 was the third WJCAC championship under head coach Austin Mefford.
“Our goal going into this season was to win the conference, to win the Region V Tournament, and win a national championship and step one is complete. We've won the conference, got as high No. 1 in the country for four weeks and had just two hiccups all year. It's really hard to go undefeated and Hutch did it last year. We have two losses at this point, we're sitting in a good spot going into the Region V Tournament.”
The Thunderbirds enter the Region V Tournament as the No. 1 seed in front of South Plains via a heads call on the coin flip that fell in favor of the T-Birds. NMJC will face Weatherford College Thursday, March 13 at 1 p.m. CDT at McLennan CC.
“We've been able to make the postseason every year and either win the conference or win the region each season and that's one of our goals,” Coach Mefford said. “It just shows we've had good players. This year's team after last year, you know, the expectation was for this year's team to be the best team in the conference. We had eight sophomores this year, seven of which are returners. They've held up their end of the bargain of what they needed to do this year. When they can do that, it makes the coach look good and I've just tried not to screw it up too much.”
The T-Birds will be led by a trio stars Cacia Antonio, Pania Davis, and Amyah Sutton.
Antonio is a 5-11 sophomore guard who was recently honored as the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) National Player of the Year after averaging 13.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.9 SPG, and posting four double-doubles.
Davis, a 6-6 sophomore forward, is a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American averaging 13.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 2.8 BPG, and has recorded 10 double-doubles.
“Cacia is the best player in the country or one of the top players in the country,” Coach Mefford said. “The way she pushes the ball in transition and can get our team out and running in the half court. Then you add Pania who's probably the best post player in the country. She's so versatile, she can score inside, outside, and really impacts the game on the defensive end. The trio of sophomores really made our team hard to beat, given the depth and other players we have surrounding those three.”
Sutton is a 5-9 forward out of Oklahoma City Okla. Sutton is averaging 13.4 PPG up from 9 PPG last season. She improved her 3-point shooting from 32.8% from beyond the arc to a national-leading 51.1% from outside. Sutton set a career-high in her last game of the regular season with 29 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
“Amyah has just came on tremendously this year. She was a good player for us last year, and I think averaged nine to 10 points a game, but this year, she's just stepped up to a new level,” Coach Mefford said. “When you're leading the country in 3-point percentage, you're doing something right. But she's way more of a player than just a shooter. The other night, she hits a three and goes to the other end and takes a charge. She just has found ways to help our team and in big moments if we need a basket, Amyah has been there to hit it.”
“Anytime you potentially have the three best players in the conference, you're in a good spot,” Coach Mefford said.
The WJCAC is no easy conference but when you loop in the NTJCAC and create Region V, the level of play is second to none.
“Well, our conferences and region is as good as anybody,” Coach Mefford said. “There are five ranked teams. Collin's getting votes. You know, six teams in the top 30, so to speak, it's very challenging. And anybody of those eight, for that matter, are good enough to win it. McLennan is playing on their home court, they're a top 10 team. South Plains is a top 10 team. Odessa has battled all year with top 10 teams, and they're in the top 20, and Grayson's in the top 25.”
NMJC is set to face Weatherford College in the first round of the Region V Tournament. The Thunderbirds are 9-0 against Weatherford's common opponents and the Coyotes are 7-4 against those same teams. Weatherford comes into the game with a 20-10 (10-6) record.
“Weatherford you know, they're different,” Coach Mefford said. “They're different than anybody we've played, although they're similar in other ways. They're big. They like to run a lot of high low stuff, get the ball inside, which we've guarded a lot this year, and we have size to match that. But the thing they do differently than some of those other teams we've played is they really push the ball in transition, and then they're willing to take risks and turn it over, but they're also going to get easy ones, so we have to do a good job of getting back on defense. They're well coached. Bob's been in the region for forever and done a lot. So, they're going to be well coached and well prepared.”
The Thunderbirds have to deal with Weatherford first but looking beyond the Coyotes also presents a tough road to the Region V title.
“If we're fortunate enough to get through the first one. You're playing a top 25 team after with Odessa and Grayson, and that's going to be a fight,” Coach Mefford said. “Obviously, we've played both this year. Grayson's a good team that was willing to make a trip to Castor to play us and we've seen Odessa twice, and it's really hard to beat a good team three times in a season, which would be the case if we have to play them. On the other side, you've got Collin and South Plains playing, Clarendon beat McLennan last year. Whatever happens, it's going to be a good game for whoever gets the championship from that side.”
This season the Thunderbirds are fortunate to have a variety of depth options come postseason time.
“We do have more depth, and we've got more quality bodies that we can put in there on any given night,” Coach Mefford said. “I mean, you look at our outside shooting, and one night it's Kaycee hiting six threes. The next night it's Fatime. The next night it's Nuria or Amyah. We've got a lot of different people that can step up in different roles. We have a standard rotation, but we have people outside that rotation that when they're called on, they're ready and can come in and help us.”
NMJC 27-2 (12-2) will play Weatherford College 20-10 (10-6) in the first round of the Region V tournament Thursday, March 13 at 1 p.m. CDT at McLennan College in Waco, Texas.
Info according to the WJCAC website below.
Tickets will be sold at the gate and are: $25 Tournament Pass; $10 Adult Day Pass; and $8 Student & Senior Citizen Day Pass; and $5 per person on Championship Saturday.
All tournament games will be streamed on Centex Sports Network at www.centexsportsnetwork.com. You will have to create FREE account to watch.
To view the entire bracket, visit https://njcaaregion5.com/
Women’s Quarterfinals | Thursday, March 13 | Central
1 p.m. | Weatherford vs. New Mexico
3 p.m. | Grayson vs. Odessa
5 p.m. | Collin vs. South Plains
7 p.m. | McLennan vs. Clarendon
