Photo: Northeast Mississippi Community College head women’s basketball coach Chelsey Rhodes (kneeling) gives pregame instructions to (from left) Audria Houston (Tupelo), Tyesha James (Lonoke, Ark.), Kamiyha Griffin (South Panola) and Anna Greene (Kossuth) before the Lady Tigers’ home game against Holmes Community College. (Michael H Miller/NEMCC Public Information)
March 8, 2025- The Northeast Mississippi Community College men’s and women’s basketball programs are on level footing as their postseason journeys begin.
Both the Lady Tigers and Tigers are the four-seed in the 2025 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 Tournament, which continues with the quarterfinal round on Monday, March 10 inside Bonner Arnold Coliseum.
The Lady Tigers get a rematch with five-seed Mississippi Delta Community College. The winner advances to meet either top-seed Pearl River Community College or nine-seed Louisiana State University Eunice at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 14 in Poplarville.
The Tigers entertain five-seed Hinds Community College. The winner moves on to battle either top-seed Jones College or nine-seed Baton Rouge (La.) Community College at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12 in Ellisville.
The region championship games are scheduled for Wednesday, March 13 for the men and Saturday, March 15 for the women. The winners of both tournaments advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in Kansas and Wyoming, respectively.
All Northeast region tournament games will air live on the NEMCCTV Black Channel and on radio affiliate The Shark 102.3 FM out of Ripley. Go to NEMCCTV.com or download the Northeast app on Roku, Amazon Firestick or Apple TV devices by searching for either Northeast Mississippi Community College or partner company WSN.
Both Northeast teams had different projections entering the 2024-25 campaign with one program living up to the hype and the other far exceeding their low expectations.
The Tigers were picked as a top-four team by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) coaches in their preseason poll. They backed that up by finishing the regular season with a 26-4 overall record for the second consecutive campaign.
“I credit our guys for staying in the gym,” said Northeast headman Cord Wright. “They’ve put in the extra work and they’re reaping the benefits of it. I like the way that we’re playing right now. It’s good to see.”
Northeast boasts six players that average greater than eight points per game on one of its best teams in terms of bench depth in program history. The Tigers led the MACCC with an average of just more than 90 points per contest.
Tyler Byrd is making a case for All-American accolades for the second straight year. Byrd leads the Tigers in several statistical categories, including points (16.9), field goals (5.9), rebounds (5.8) and free throws (3.7) per game.
The Memphis, Tenn., product became the first Northeast standout this century to score more than 1,000 points in a black-and-gold uniform. He is just the 15th Tiger since 1980 to surpass that prestigious mark.
Just barely under double figures for the Tigers in scoring are Javion Stephen (9.8), Ru Mills (9.3), Ismail Rashid (9.2), Landon Jeffries (8.9) and Stephon Thomas (8.8).
Jeffries guides Northeast with 3.9 assists while Thomas has a team-best 2.4 steals. Terrence Marco is currently fourth in the state with a solid average of 1.9 blocks.
Northeast defeated Hinds in Booneville back on January 16th by a score of 95-67. Four Tigers reached double-digits that day, including Byrd with 21 points, in a matchup that featured 48 combined fouls.
The Lady Tigers (17-12) were incorrectly predicted to place dead last in the MACCC by the league’s coaches. They went 9-5 in conference play to secure their first round bye in the playoffs.
Kamiyha Griffin, who was selected as Miss Basketball for Class 6A last year at South Panola High School, and Tyesha James account for much of Northeast’s successes. They both average double figures at 13.9 and 10 points, respectively.
James tops the Lady Tigers in rebounding at 6.9 with Griffin right behind her at six. Jakeria Hawkins is having a solid sophomore campaign as well with 11.8 points and team-bests of 4.6 assists and two steals per outing.
Northeast lost to Mississippi Delta less than three weeks ago at home by a 69-63 result. The Lady Tigers trailed 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and could not catch up despite 13 second half points from Hawkins.
“We’re pretty much keeping the same game plan this time around,” Northeast head coach Chelsey Rhodes said. “We’ve got to make sure that we capitalize on rebounds. We gave up too many second chance points.”
