T-Bird (WBB) Set to Face FSW in Round of 16 at Nationals
The NMJC women's basketball team qualified for the 2025 NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Championship in Casper, Wyoming as an at-large bid on Sunday, March 16.
The T-Birds earned the No. 5 seed and a first round bye in the tournament. The Thunderbirds had a 10-day wait for who their opponent would be in the second round of the NJCAA Women's Basketball Championship, and their answer is Florida SouthWestern.
The T-Birds will face the Buccaneers Friday, March 28 at 2:30 p.m. MDT on ESPN+. The matchup is the first meeting between NMJC and FSW in women's basketball.
No. 12 Florida SouthWestern defeated No. 21 Itawamba 61-36 on Wednesday, March 26 to advance to the second round of the tournament.
The T-Birds are one of three teams from Region V in Casper. No. 7 McLennan CC received the automatic bid to nationals after winning the Region V title over the T-Birds in a 63-61 victory on Saturday, March 15. No. 9 South Plains College was the second at-large team that made the national tournament from Region V.
The Thunderbirds had a stellar season in Year 5 under 3-time (2022, 2024-25) WJCAC Coach of the Year Austin Mefford. NMJC won their 10th WJCAC title and third WJCAC championship with Coach Mefford. The T-Birds finished with a 29-3 (12-2) record and are just three games shy of the most wins in program history (32-4 | 2015-16).
"It's a goal of ours each year to reach nationals," NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford said. "We recruit high level players that's goals are to play for a national championship and thankfully each year we have made it and given ourselves that chance. It's a great experience for the student-athletes and hopefully this trip will leave them with memories that will last a lifetime."
The front court of the Thunderbirds is led by 6-6 sophomore forward Pania Davis.
Davis was a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American, WJCAC Player of the Year, Region V All-Tournament Team, All-Region V, and WJCAC All-Conference in 2025. The Perth, Australia native has a team-high 11 double-doubles on the year (25 career) and averages 13.4 points per game and 9.3 RPG. Davis also holds the school record for most blocks in a season at 95 and has 82 so far this year. She is No. 4 in the NJCAA for blocks this season. Davis is NMJC's all-time blocks leader with 177.
The back court's leader is guard Cacia Antonio.
Antonio, a 5-11 sophomore, was the WBCA Player of the Year, Region V All-Tournament Team, All-Region V, and WJCAC All-Conference in 2025 averaging 14.3 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 1.9 SPG. She also has registered four double-doubles this season.
The Thunderbirds will make their fourth appearance in a row at the national tournament and 11th overall. Coach Mefford has made it to the NJCAA's final stage in every season as a head coach or assistant. Mefford is 2-3 at the national tournament with NMJC and 10-7 with HOF coach Drew Sanders.
Coach Mefford has an interesting tie to NMJC's opponent Florida SouthWestern. The Sports Information Director for FSW, Roy Allen, hired Mefford for his first head coaching job at Seward County six seasons ago and now they meet again in the Round of 16.
"It's ironic. The joke was made yesterday when I saw him about, you know, I hired you and do me a favor let us win a game," Coach Mefford said. "He's a good friend and we still talk to him regularly, and it's just ironic playing their team here, but it'll be fun. It'll make it even more enjoyable to go play Friday and at least one of us is moving on."
The Thunderbirds hometown Hobbs, NM has a sizable amount of elevation (3,642ft) compared to their opponent Florida Southwestern (3ft). Casper, Wyoming the site if the national tournament sits at 5,118 ft.
Fatigue could be a factor for the Bucs, but it can go both ways with their ability to have a game under their belt and have the first game jitters out of the way.
"Depth is not their strength," Coach Mefford said. "I think they have nine able bodies and seven that see a lot of the minutes. That's why tempo is going to be very important for us in this game. But they've played all year this way, so they're used to it. They're in shape to play that way."
The T-Birds face a Florida SouthWestern team that has lost only five games all year with four being to ranked teams in Trinity Valley, Northwest 2x, and Chipola once. The T-Birds losses have been to ranked South Plains, unranked Midland, and ranked McLennan in the Region V Championship.
"They're a very good team, and there's a reason they're here," Coach Mefford said. "Their coach does a great job with them. They are very half court minded and want to run their sets and play their game and do the things that they want to do."
"I think the key for us is to get them out of that. They have a guard that's very good in Samantha Serrano averaging 18 a game. She's very dynamic and can hit deep threes and attack the basket. They go to their high low game a lot and try to get the ball inside. The nice part about playing in the WJCAC is a lot of teams in our league do that, so I think we're very familiar with defending that style."
Coach Mefford has a couple of keys to making a deep postseason run at the tournament this year.
"I think tempo and playing our game is going to be key," Coach Mefford said. "If we can play our game and get up and down and be able to score in transition and not make it a slow half-court game. That's going to be a big key for our success from Game 1 on."
"I think our Big 3 have got to step up and play in terms of Cacia, Amyah, and Pania. They have got to play their game at a high level and be very dynamic. The last key is being able to hit outside shots. We've seen in some of these games to open the tournament, teams have struggled from the outside, and it's made it low scoring games and slower games. I think if we can hit some shots from the outside, it keeps everybody honest and really helps our post game and Cacia as well."
The No. 5 Thunderbirds face No. 12 FSW in Round 2 of the NJCAA Women's Basketball Championship Friday, March 28 at 2:30 p.m. MDT in Casper, Wyoming.
The game will be televised on ESPN+ and a $11.99 subscription will be required to catch the games live. Live stats can be found here.
If the T-Birds were to advance to the Quarterfinals NMJC will stream a radio only broadcast of the game live on the NMJC YouTube channel.
To keep up to date with tournament scores and action visit Tournament Central.
