Seasoned Grambling State women's hoops team eyes SWAC title, NCAA bid

GRAMBLING, Louisiana -- Winning its conference first postseason game, capturing the co-SWAC regular season championship, the number of victories increased for the third straight season, the entire starting lineup returns from an historic campaign a season ago, including the Preseason Player of the Year.

There’s no question – just all confidence – that junior guard Shakyla Hill, who the conference coaches voted the best player coming into the 2017-18 season, didn’t hesitate when asked where she sees the Grambling State women’s basketball team going.

“For one, we don’t plan on being in the WNIT,” Hill said. “We plan on being in the NCAA tournament. The returners, and our coaches also, set a standard that we have to improve constantly, so the people that came in have the mindset that we’re not going to the WNIT, we’re going to the NCAA and we’re going to get as far as we can.”

As a sophomore, Hill led GSU scoring 15 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, while finishing tops in the league in assists, steals and field goal percentage.

The Lady Tigers won 19 games last year, going 14-4 in SWAC play, and defeated Ole Miss, 78-75, on the road in a first round Women’s NIT game, setting the positive trajectory and an expectation inside the program.

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