Women's Basketball Preview: Revamped Region Champs
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, MS – Last season, the Itawamba Community College women won the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 title to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament for the second time in three seasons.
This season, the Lady Indians will look to build on their recent success with eight fresh faces mixed with seven sophomores on the 2015-16 roster.
"Our sophomores are returning with a lot of valuable experience from last season," said Coach Nanci Gray. "When you are able to return seven players that helped win a region championship and make it to the national tournament it makes you feel good knowing you've got the type of experience and leadership you need as a coach both on and off the floor."
ICC returns one starter, Alontra Tucker (Lamar), along with five other players that appeared in 20 or more of the Lady Indians' 28 games last season.
Tucker, a point guard who started 24 games last season, is the top returner in points (10.6), assists (2.4), and steals (1.3) per game. She is the second best returning rebounder (3.4) behind forward Ieysha Mays (Mound Bayou), who averaged 4.4 boards per outing.
Mays played in 27 games last season, made three starts, and averaged 3.7 points per game.
She along with returning sophomores Alison Childs (Calhoun City), Treasure Evans (Horn Lake), Julianna Garner (New Albany), Raylin Starks (Cordova, TN), and Erika Toney (Horn Lake) are expected to contribute right away when ICC tips off the season on November 2 at the Davis Event Center against Lawson State Community College (AL).
ICC signed an impressive recruiting class that Coach Gray will look to provide valuable minutes once they've adjusted to the collegiate level of play.
"We are real excited about the caliber of talent we have coming in with our freshmen class," Gray. "We've got a group of players that had a lot of success throughout their high school careers and made deep runs in the playoffs. Hopefully, that experience will help them adjust quicker to playing on this level."
Freshmen on the Lady Indians' roster includes: Zaida Cox (Ripley), Grace Elliot (New Site), Sarah Gravin (Hamilton), Marlee Hatcher (Pontotoc), Asia Partlow (Tupelo), Jabria Pounds (Nettleton), and Aaliyaha Thornton (Hernando).
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