The Northeast Mississippi Community College women’s basketball program took another big step forward during the 2023-24 campaign.
The Lady Tigers climbed back into the upper half of the conference standings and won 20 games for the first time in 18 years. Northeast also hosted the opening round of the postseason.
Chelsey Rhodes has even greater expectations for her third season as head coach of the Lady Tigers, who signed a talented in-state recruiting class to go with four returners.
“Enough is never enough for me,” she said. “I’m always looking to get better not only for myself, but for my team, my staff and the school. I always want to put a good product out there.
“We have essentially everything that we need. We have people that can shoot the ball. We have people that can see the floor well. We have people that want to go get rebounds and play defense.”
Anna Greene and Jakeria Hawkins were every day starters for Northeast last season. The two guards were the only Lady Tigers to average at least one made three-pointer per game.
Greene (Kossuth) was one of Northeast’s most reliable players with a team-best 29.9 minutes. She did a little bit of everything with 6.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals.
Hawkins (Lake Cormorant) was the second leading scorer for Northeast with 11 points per contest on the dot. She produced a career-high 25 points during the Lady Tigers’ region playoff win over Mississippi Delta Community College.
“Jakeria’s gotten stronger and smarter. Every single day she brings emotion to our team,” Rhodes said. “I think you’re really going to like seeing Anna on the floor this year. We had conversations over the summer on what we needed her to do better and she took it to heart.”
Goldee Butler and Tyesha James provide Northeast some necessary experience in the post. Butler (Biggersville) had some solid performances in non-conference play, but missed the second half of the season due to a lingering injury.
James (Lonoke, Ark.) is the lone out-of-stater on the Lady Tigers’ roster. She had three double-doubles one year ago, including a 15-point and 14-rebound effort in a victory at Arkansas State University Mid-South.
“Goldee is one of those players that wants to do the small things. She’s going to go hard every single possession,” said Rhodes. “Tyesha has a knack for the ball. We’re expecting her to guard all five positions this year. We’re expecting some high energy.”
Northeast’s newcomers are led by Kamiyha Griffin, who was recognized as the 2024 Miss Basketball presented by CSpire for Class 6A by the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC).
Griffin averaged just under 20 points per game for state semifinalist South Panola High School. She was a consensus All-State recipient and participated in the MAC North/South All-Star Game before her senior campaign.
Na’Miya Davis and Maniya Kirksey both competed for state championships last winter. Kirksey captured the Class 7A title with Tupelo while Davis finished as the Class 5A runner-up at Canton.
Nakyiah Walker scored more than 1,500 points at the prep level while guiding Independence to a division championship. Christina Fulton (Columbus) rounds out the list of true freshmen for the Lady Tigers.
Northeast will also benefit from three transfers from fellow Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) members in Kelsey Federick, Audria Houston and Katelyn Leavy.
Federick and Leavy both received second-team all-division honors as seniors at Grenada. Houston was selected to the prestigious Dandy Dozen listing by The Clarion-Ledger prior to her final season at Tupelo.
“I thought it was a great recruiting year for us. This program is trending in the right direction. It’s something that people want to be a part of,” Rhodes said. “We’ve got a lot of good pieces. It’s just fitting that puzzle together.”
