Tallahassee Community College women’s basketball team are national champions
Source: Tallahassee Community College
TALLAHASSEE, Texas (March 26, 2018) – Tallahassee Community College defeated Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College, 69-51, on Saturday to win the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship.
It’s the Eagles’ first women’s basketball national championship and the school’s first national title in any sport since softball won the NJCAA crown in 1994. The tournament was held in Lubbock, Texas.
This was the first time Tallahassee had faced Trinity Valley, which has won the national title eight times in their history. Tallahassee head coach Franqua “Q” Bedell, who has led the Eagles since 2013, said the keys to victory for his team were defense and rebounding.
“We took them out of what they wanted to do,” said Bedell. “I thought we did a great job of holding them outside of the paint. They’re a great scoring team, we took away their post play. So, I feel like our defense really, really stepped up and we created some offense off our defense. And on the offensive end we got to the bucket, and we made free throws tonight as well.
With the game tied at 32 at the half, Tallahassee took control in the third quarter, outscoring the Cardinals, 23-11, for a 55-43 lead entering the fourth. The Eagles pulled away in the final 10 minutes, leading by as many as 20 inside the final minute.
Bedell was particularly proud of the way the players responded in the second half.
“We really set down and guarded and made it hard for Trinity to get clean shots. They got one shot and we got the rebound and we were off to the races.”
Redshirt freshman guard Nakiah Black scored 13 points to lead Tallahassee. Freshman Jamyra McChristine had 12 and sophomore Japonica James added 10. All three were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Tallahassee had earned an at-large bid to the national tournament based on their 24-6 record and second place finish in the notoriously strong Panhandle Conference. They had to win five games in as many days to bring home the championship trophy.
“Five days…they absolutely bought in and found something deep inside,” said Bedell.
Black agreed that defense and the players’ relentless winning attitude were key, but also gave credit to the coaching staff.
“Everybody can recruit good players and still not win,” said Black. “You have to have great coaches who are willing to hear the players out and conform to the players they’ve got. They did a great job of teaching us and also of covering up our weaknesses and making us look like great basketball players.”
Tallahassee (29-6) ended the season with a school-record 29 wins.
