| Three former EMCC players to compete in NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament |
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SCOOBA – Three former members of the East Mississippi Community College women’s basketball program will be participating in this year’s NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. Former EMCC standout Martika Hull, now with McNeese State, along with former Lady Lion teammates Rickiesha Bryant and Shelby Crawford, both of Tennessee-Martin, are set to make their NCAA Tournament debuts this weekend.
Hull, a former all-region performer for head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions, helped lead McNeese State University to this year’s Southland Conference regular-season and SLC Tournament championships. The 26-6 Cowgirls, seeded 15th, will face eighth-ranked and No. 2 seed Texas A&M Sunday afternoon (4 p.m. CT) during first-round action in Shreveport, La. This year marks the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history for McNeese State. A junior reserve for head coach Brooks Donald Williams’ McNeese State club, Hull is averaging 3.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game for the Cowgirls, while shooting 57 percent from the field on the year. "It’s so special for me to see Martika (Hull) help lead McNeese State to regular-season and conference tournament championships,” EMCC’s Thompson noted. “After watching her grow up as a player throughout high school, I was privileged enough to have her two years as a player at EMCC. She’s taken her winning mentality to McNeese State after helping us win divisional and regional titles in 2008-09 and before that helping Southeast Lauderdale win some high school titles.” A product of Meridian’s Southeast Lauderdale High School, Hull completed her successful two-year playing career (2008-10) at East Mississippi CC having scored 847 career points (14.4 ppg) on 57-percent field-goal shooting as well as collecting 470 career rebounds (8.0 rpg). In helping lead the Lady Lions to a two-year composite record of 40-20, including an appearance in the 2009 NJCAA Tournament, Hull recorded 18 career double-doubles, including 11 as a sophomore in earning NJCAA All-Region 23 honors. Qualifiers out of high school before playing the 2009-10 season as freshmen at EMCC, Bryant (Florida City, Fla.) and Crawford (Thomasville, Ala.) are both reserve frontcourt players on UT Martin’s first-ever NCAA Tournament team. Winners of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title, the 21-10 Skyhawks, seeded 15th, will meet sixth-ranked and No. 2 seed Duke in Saturday’s opening-round play (12:30 p.m. CT) slated for Durham, N.C. Bryant, who averaged 1.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 20 appearances for EMCC as a first-year player in 2009-10, is averaging 2.9 points and 3.2 boards per game in 25 outings this season for head coach Kevin McMillan’s UT Martin squad. Having averaged 4.1 points and 3.7 boards per contest while seeing action in all 28 EMCC games in 2009-10, Crawford has averaged just under a point plus 1.7 rebounds in 27 appearances for the Skyhawks on the year. “I am very excited for our three former players who have won conference championships on the NCAA Division I level and will now compete in the NCAA Tournament,” EMCC’s Thompson added. “Although Shelby (Crawford) and Rickiesha (Bryant) only played at EMCC for one season, I’m very happy for them and what they’re a part of there at Tennessee-Martin. All three of these young ladies will be experiencing a lifelong dream of playing in the NCAA Tournament, and we’re extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished since leaving East Mississippi Community College.” |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 March 2011 ) |
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