NMJC (WBB) Opens National Tournament in Lake Charles

The NMJC women's basketball team qualified for the 2026 NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Championship in Lake Charles, Louisiana as an at-large bid.

The No. 16 seed T-Birds will face the No. 17 seed Arizona Western Matadors at McNeese State University Tuesday, March 24 at 10 a.m. CDT on ESPN+.

No. 17 Arizona Western defeated No. 2 Eastern Arizona, then No. 1, 51-50 in the West District Tournament/Region I Championship on Wednesday, March 11.

"We are very excited to get a second life this season," NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford said. "I do feel this team was very deserving of an at-large as our entire body of work over the course of the season was deserving. The schedule wasn't easy and we finished tied for 2nd in the toughest conference in the country."

The tournament is single-elimination and consists of 24 teams with 16 auto bids and eight at-large bids.

The T-Birds are one of three teams from Region V in Lake Charles. No. 5 Clarendon College received the automatic bid to nationals after winning the Region V title over Grayson College in a 65-55 victory on Saturday, March 14.

No. 15 Grayson College was the other at-large team that made the national tournament from Region V.

The T-Birds enter nationals with a 23-6 (10-4) in Year 6 under NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford. The Thunderbirds finished the regular season tying for second in the WJCAC with Howard and South Plains.

The backcourt for the Thunderbirds is led by Jada Graves.

Graves, a 5-3 sophomore guard from Amarillo, Texas, has been incredible this year for the T-Birds.

She is averaging 18.5 PPG, 6.8 APG, 4.2 RPG, 2.3 SPG, and has recorded six double-doubles. Graves is tied for most points per game in a season with Tonya McCaster (1987-88) at 18.5 PPG. She tied the school record for most points in a game with 41 points in the win over No. 1 South Plains on Jan. 19, 2026.  Graves holds the career assists record for NMJC at 324 and is second all-time in assists in a game with 14 (record is 15).  She has started every game this year. Graves was named WJCAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, WJCAC All-Conference, and All-Region V.   

"We need Jada to be the National Player of the Year that she is," Coach Mefford said. "She can affect the game in so many ways and make those around her better, she can create for others but also can go get her own buckets when needed. We're going to need her to continue to be special and the others to continue to step up to make a deep run in this tournament. Our sophomores have been to the tournament once before and will have to lead us."

The frontcourt for NMJC is headlined by Madison Wilson. 

Wilson is a 5-11 forward out of Houston, Texas. The freshman has made a big impact in her last six games averaging 13.3 PPG and 10.5 RPG. Wilson is averaging 7.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 28 games (6 starts) this season and was named WJCAC All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Guard Zarai Lewis earned WJCAC All-Conference recognition and sophomore Kaycee Steinke was named WJCAC All-Conference Honorable Mention as well. 

The No. 16 Thunderbirds face No. 17 Arizona Western in the first round of the NJCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tuesday, March 24 at 10 a.m. CDT in Lake Charles, LA at McNeese State University.

"It will be fun to see what Lake Charles brings," Coach Mefford said of the new tournament site. "I have heard nothing but great things about what we have in store. I'm excited that the weather will be much more enjoyable and teams won't have to deal with the elevation. I think it is also much easier travel for team, fans, and college coaches."

The Thunderbirds will make their fifth appearance in a row (7^th excluding covid) at the national tournament and 12th overall. Coach Mefford has made it to the NJCAA's final stage in every season as a head coach or assistant. Mefford is 3-4 at the national tournament with NMJC and 10-7 with former NMJC HOF head coach Drew Sanders.

The T-Birds face a familiar Arizona Western team that handed NMJC their only non-conference loss in OT 83-81 in just their third game of the season.

"We felt we let one get away when we played them early in the year," Coach Mefford said. "It will be nice to get another shot at them. Watching film both teams are much different and improved since the second weekend when we played. They have a very talented and balance teams and one of the best sophomores in the country in Mable Doumbia."

The Matadors have made the national tournament in two straight seasons. 

"They are well coached and extremely good on the defensive end of the floor," Coach Mefford said. "They got one of the best sophomores in the country in Mable Doumbia, she is very versatile and a matchup problem. She is surrounded by some good players that can knock down shots. They are playing with a lot of confidence right now coming off a win over the No. 1 team in the country (Eastern Arizona) and winning their region tournament."

A fun fact this week is that the Thunderbirds still own the national tournament record for lowest scoring game. The T-Birds set that mark March 22, 2023 in a first round 48-38 win over Dodge City. 

The No. 16 Thunderbirds face No. 17 Arizona Western in the first round of the NJCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tuesday, March 24 at 10 a.m. CDT in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The national tournament runs March 24-31.

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.