T-Bird (WBB) Advances to National Semifinal, Faces WJCAC Foe Clarendon

NMJC women's basketball defeated Walters State CC 65-56 on Saturday, March 28 to advance to the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Semifinal.

"We survived and got to advance," NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford said. "Walters State had a good team. I think people might have looked at them physically, their size, and thought we would walk through it. But no, they're a good team. They got out and guarded, and we had to play for 40 minutes to be able to get a win."

The No. 16 T-Birds are set to play WJCAC rival and No. 5 seed Clarendon College Monday, March 30 at 4 p.m. CDT on ESPN+ in Lake Charles, Louisiana. 

The Thunderbirds have made the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Semifinal for the first time since 2019, where they finished national runner-up to Gulf Coast State. 

The T-Birds fell behind late in the first quarter against Walters State and were down by five points, 16-11, in the final seconds. Jada Graves made a play racing down the court in the final five seconds of the quarter to bank in a 3-pointer from 25 feet which narrowed the deficit to 16-14 Senators.

The second quarter featured seven lead changes as the T-Birds outscored Walters State 18-13 in the period and took a three-point lead, 32-29, into the half.

NMJC jumped out to a seven-point lead, 42-35, in the third quarter following a Kaycee Steinke 3-pointer at the 4:37 mark. Caitlin Wilson extended the lead on a layup to 48-39 with 2:00 to go in the quarter. The Thunderbirds ended the third ahead 48-42.

The fourth quarter did not start out well for the T-Birds. Walters State fought back and went on an 8-0 run to begin the final period, taking a 50-48 advantage with 7:55 left in the game.

Then, Jada Graves came through like she has all tournament. The sophomore guard tied the score at 50 apiece on a driving with 5:58 left in the game. Addison Edwards broke the tie again with 2:26 left after securing an offensive board and getting the put back lay in to push NMJC back in front 54-52.

"They came out in zone and pressured us a little bit, and it just had us rattled," Coach Mefford said. "We didn't get a couple good possessions, took a couple bad shots, and Walters was able to get out and go. We got Jada back in the game, and she calmed us down and hit a shot and got us comfortable again."

Graves completed a 3-point play with 1:44 to go to make the advantage 57-52 T-Birds with 1:44 remaining. Walters State did not have a counter, and the Thunderbirds kept dancing to the semifinals in Lake Charles with a 65-56 victory. 

The win moves NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford's national tournament record with the T-Birds to 6-4 and marks the first time he has reached a final four as a head coach.   

"Well, in the end it's just another game with a different title that we just have to prepare for," Coach Mefford said. "Prepare like any of the first three games, or the conference tournament, or whatever it be. We need to be ready to go play and find a way. Hopefully we find a way to get more points than Clarendon after 40 minutes." 

Jada Graves was the team's leading scorer for the third time in this tournament. She finished with 14 points, six assists, and three steals. Graves now had 223 assists on the year and is five assists away from breaking Melissa Nix's assist record of 227 set during the 1988-89 season. The Amarillo, Texas native is already the all-time leader in assists with 337.  

Forward Caitlin Wilson sparked the Thunderbirds off the bench scoring 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field in her first action of the national tournament. The freshman chipped in seven rebounds, three steals, and was one-point shy of her career high of 12 points.

"We needed a burst at the time or a spurt," Coach Mefford said. "We subbed a couple of them in, Bright, Rekiah, and Caitlin. Our team on the floor needed the physicality and they were rebounding. Caitlin just stepped up and did a lot of things for us. She got rebounds and scored as well. Caitlin used her physicality where she was stronger than their post players and it was a great game for her. Hopefully she'll get the opportunity as we move forward and continue to play well during the tournament."

Addison Edwards continued to be a force in the middle blocking four shots and grabbing four rebounds. Guard Luisa Amaral ended the morning with six points and six rebounds off the bench.    

The T-Birds shot 26-for-64 (40.6%) from the field, 3-of-15 (20%) from the 3-point line, and 10-of-13 (76.9%) from the charity stripe. NMJC forced 21 turnovers and held the Senators to 31.7% from the field.

The Thunderbirds have played on another level in the three tournament games. The last team in the tournament wanted to show they belonged in Lake Charles Coach Mefford said.

"We took a few days off after the Region V Tournament and took time to reset. We got some days off, got to rest, got our legs back under us, and then got a second chance," Coach Mefford said. "We're almost at this point playing with house money.  Should we be here? Should we not? That's debatable depending on who you ask, but I think we've shown we should be here. They're just playing free and trying to execute what we want to do. We're playing for each other and playing together right now."

The last time NMJC made the Semifinal was in 2019 when they defeated Hutchinson CC 60-54 in Lubbock, Texas. 

The No. 16 T-Birds advance to the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Semifinal and will face No. 5 seed Clarendon College Monday, March 30 at 4 p.m. CDT on ESPN+ in Lake Charles, Louisiana. 

The T-Birds have faced off against Clarendon twice this season in conference play. The Thunderbirds dropped their home contest to the Clarendon 70-62 on Jan. 15 and then fell to the Bulldogs 62-56 on Feb. 16 at Clarendon.  

"Both teams are playing well but we have to find a way. I think we're playing a lot better than when we played in January and February when we played them the last time," Coach Mefford said.

"There's been a lot of game in between, a lot of growth in between and we're just playing with confidence right now and finding a way to make plays when we need to.

Clarendon is playing well too. They're here for a reason here. We can go back eight years ago when I was at Gulf Coast State we played Tallahassee CC. We'd beat them during the regular season three times and had to play them in the national semifinal, and they beat us in the semifinal and won the national championship. So, hopefully that script rewrites itself of the team that lost during the regular season goes on to win it all."

The game will be televised on ESPN+ and an $11.99 subscription will be required to catch the games live. Live stats can be found here. 

To keep up to date with tournament scores and action visit the tournament results page. The full bracket can be found here.