T-Bird (WBB) Advances to NJCAA Quarterfinals in Casper

The Thunderbird women's basketball team defeated Florida SouthWestern 62-56 in the second round of the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Championship to advance to the Quarterfinals.

"We had a little toughness shown today and had some big players make some big shots, especially in Cacia and Amyah late when we needed one," NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford said. "They found a way to get us baskets and we found ways to get stops on the defensive end and really locked them down late."

The Thunderbirds will play No. 4 Dodge City CC at the Ford Wyoming Center in Casper, WY Saturday, March 29 at 2:30 p.m. MDT. DC3 beat No. 13 Arizona Western 72-52 in the Round of 16 Thursday afternoon.

Sophomore forward Pania Davis scored eight of her 10 points in the first half including six in the second quarter. The Thunderbirds led at half 33-26. 

The T-Birds pushed the lead to 13 points following a Jada Graves triple to make the score 45-32 with 2:42 to go in the half. FSW ended the third quarter on a furious 11-0 run to cut the lead to two points. 

NMJC started the fourth clinging to a 45-43 lead. Then, the Amyah Sutton show began. The Oklahoma City native scored eight straight points after three straight buckets and two free throws to keep the Buccaneers at bay 55-50 with just under five minutes to play in the game. Sutton went 4-for-5 from the field in the fourth scoring 10 points in the frame. 

The play of the game happened when FSW's Sarah Owona missed a jumper with 28 seconds left and T-Bird forward Emma Najjuma ripped down the board in traffic and was fouled. She would hit 1-of-2 from the line and push the lead to 60-56 with 28 seconds remaining in the game. FSW couldn't find the bucket in the final half minute as the T-Birds held on 62-56. 

Amyah Sutton scored a team-high 18 points despite going 0-5 from 3-point land. The sophomore forward was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and 6-of-10 from two-point territory. 

"Amyah showed her versatility today," Coach Mefford said. "The three-pointer wasn't falling tonight, but she was able to get to the line and get some easy ones. I think we got her three good looks on out of bounds plays, and she knocked them down. She really gave us a big boost right there when we needed it."

Sophomore guard Cacia Antonio finished with her sixth double-double of the season scoring 10 points, notching 11 boards, and three assists. 

"We wanted to get Cacia the ball one on one and let her go play and be who she is," Coach Mefford said. "I think she did that in big moments tonight a couple times. Just took the ball and said, I'm getting to the basket, and I'm either going to score, I'm going to get fouled, or I'm going to kick to a shooter."

"She ended up with a double-double tonight and several assists, but impressively late on defense she did a great job on Serrano, who's averaging 18 a game, and we held her to 14. When FSW needed a three and needed a big shot, Cacia said 'I got her' and locked Serrano up."

Pania Davis scored 10 points as well and pulled in eight rebounds with one hand this afternoon.

"We didn't know what we'd get out of Pania and how much she could do or to what degree she'd be effective," Coach Mefford said. "The fact that she ends up with 10 points and eight rebounds with one hand tonight was really impressive. She just had that toughness and mentality of, she's a sophomore, and she's going to make sure she can do everything we can to continue winning."

Redshirt freshman Emma Najjuma was huge for the Thunderbirds picking up big minutes for the hampered Davis. Najjuma finished with eight rebounds and seven points. Her biggest point of the game was a clutch free throw in the final seconds to help seal the game.  

"Emma had seven points and eight rebounds, and did a lot of good things for us tonight," Coach Mefford said. "When we needed rebounds down the stretch, and she made sure she got the ball and controlled it. She got to the line late in the game when we really had to hit one or two free throws to put ourselves in a good position to make it a two possession game. Emma knocked one down and we hung on from there."

The T-Birds shot 25-for-54 (46.3%) from the field, 3-of-13 (30%) from the 3-point line, and 9-of-10 (90%) from the charity stripe. The Thunderbirds held the Bucs to 36.7% from the field.

The win Friday is the Thunderbirds 30th victory of the season as they now hold a 30-3 record and are two games shy of tying the school record for most wins in a season. Now the T-Birds set their sights on their next opponent No. 4 Dodge City.

The T-Birds played Dodge City earlier in the season where NMJC defeated the Conqs in Odessa, Texas 84-66. Dodge has a history with NMJC at the national tournament as well. The two teams played in the first round of the 2023 NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Championship on March 22. The Thunderbirds took down the Conquistadors 48-38 in the lowest scoring game in NJCAA tournament history.  

"Well, we're going to try to avoid the history and the way it was made, but if we come out on top with a win, we'll live with it again," Coach Mefford said. "Dodge is a well-coached team and they're going to do a good job. We played them in the tournament two years ago. We beat them in a neutral site in Odessa earlier this year, but that was so early. It was November. Both teams are different teams that have grown since then and evolved."

Coach Mefford is geared up for a battle where both teams are eyeing a Final Four appearance. 

"I think it's going to be a fight and it's going to come down to getting stops and limiting their three-point opportunities as they've shot over 1000 threes on the year."

"For us we just got to continue to be effective on offense and be able to score in the half court and get out and transition. They have a little bit of an advantage being the No. 4 seed they got to play earlier and have today off where we as the No. 5 seed had to play so they're coming in with a day extra of rest, but we've had plenty of rest coming up to today's game."

NMJC will stream a radio only broadcast of the game live on the NMJC YouTube channel. Live stats can be found here.

The No. 5 T-Birds face No. 4 Dodge City CC on ESPN+ Saturday, March 29 at 2:30 p.m. MDT. 

ESPN+ is an $11.99 subscription and will be required to catch the games live.