Gathright is All-Louisiana for 3rd consecutive season

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Whitney Gathright has done it again.
     
Gathright, a 5-foot-4 senior point guard from New Orleans and a graduate of John Curtis Christian School, was named second-team All-Louisiana in women's basketball late Friday by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. It's the third consecutive season that Gathright is All-Louisiana; she made the third team as a sophomore and junior.
     
Gathright received two votes for Player of the Year and finished fifth in that voting. Xavier's Bo Browder received one vote for Coach of the Year.
     
Gathright led the Gold Nuggets in scoring for the third consecutive season. She averaged 14.4 points and led her team with 150 assists and 73 steals. Her 184 free throws and 226 attempts are XU season records. She finished her career in the top 10 of nine XU categories, including first in made free throws (463) and free-throw percentage (.782) and second in 3-point accuracy (.366).
     
Gathright is the second Xavier player to reach 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career. Her 1,414 points in four seasons rank seventh all-time at XU.
     
Other honors this season for Gathright included WBCA NAIA All-America first team, NAIA Division I All-America third team, Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament MVP for second time in three years, first-team All-GCAC for third straight year, Louisiana Co-Player of the Month (November) and GCAC Player of the Week twice.
     
A Louisiana Sports Writers Association panel of sports media and publicists selected the All-Louisiana team, which consists of student-athletes from NCAA Division I and NAIA members. The Gold Nuggets never have produced a first-team selection; Gathright is the program's first second-team player since Brittany Powell in 2009-10. Gathright is the second Gold Nugget chosen All-Louisiana three times. Jarryn Cleaves (third team in 2004-05, 2006-07 and 2007-08) was the first.
     
Xavier's Gold Nuggets were 22-12 in 2015-16, won the GCAC Tournament for the sixth time in 11 seasons and qualified for the NAIA Division I National Championship.

2015-16 All-Louisiana Women's Basketball Team

FIRST TEAM Brandi Wingate, senior, Louisiana Tech  Keke Veal, senior, Louisiana-Lafayette Kolby Morgan, sophomore, Tulane Janelle Perez, senior, Northwestern State Jalyn Johnson, senior, McNeese State SECOND TEAM Whitney Gathright, senior, Xavier Alexis Hyder, junior, LSU Reagan Maricle, senior, LSU-Alexandria Kourtney Pennywell, junior, LSU-Shreveport Alayshia Hunter, senior, Louisiana-Monroe THIRD TEAM Shakyla Hill, freshman, Grambling Randi Brown, sophomore, New Orleans Allison Baggett, senior, McNeese State Taylor Maricle, senior, LSU-Alexandria Kia Wilridge, senior, Louisiana-Lafayette PLAYER OF THE YEAR:  Brandi Wingate, Louisiana Tech    Voting:  Wingate 10, Veal 6, Morgan 5, Perez 3, Gathright 2, Hyder 1 NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR:  Alexis Hyder, LSU  Voting:  Hyder 17, Brooke Pumroy (Louisiana Tech) 8, Quianna Tucker (LSU-Shreveport) 2 FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:  Shakyla Hill, Grambling    Voting:  Hill 20, Cassidy Barrios (Nicholls State) 5, Megan Worry (Loyola) 2 COACH OF THE YEAR:  Garry Brodhead, Louisiana-Lafayette    Voting:  Brodhead 11, Lisa Stockton (Tulane) 9, Kellie Kennedy (Loyola) 4, Nadine Domond (Grambling) 2, Bo Browder (Xavier) 1 HONORABLE MENTION Liann McCarthy, senior, Nicholls State; Briana Oglesby, senior, Loyola; Pearl Paulo, senior, LSU-Alexandria; Nanna Pool, senior, Southeastern Louisiana; Brooke Pumroy, senior, Louisiana Tech; Quiana Tucker, junior, LSU-Shreveport; Leslie Vorpahl, junior, Tulane Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director XULAgold.com XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA  twitter.com/xulagold www.facebook.com/xulagold

FAMU men’s tennis recovers after 2014 suspension

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Around this time in 2015, Florida A&M tennis coach Carl Goodman was happy just to watch his team take the court.

FAMU’s tennis team had been suspended in June 2014 by then-Athletic Director Kellen Winslow, who said the move was a cost-saving measure. Goodman said his group stayed together through adversity, and was ready to play when D’Wayne Robinson, the school’s interim athletic director at the time, reinstated the team in January 2015.

It didn’t take long for the team to return to form.

The Rattlers battled rival Bethune-Cookman on Saturday for an outright MEAC Southern Division title. The Rattlers lost 4-3, but are still 3-1 in conference play heading into the MEAC tournament, which is starts April 21 at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.

“It’s been a long, long, long journey with a lot of hard work,” Goodman said.

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Possible Patriots Draft Target, DL Javon Hargrave

BOSTON, Massachusetts -- As the 2016 NFL Draft draws closer BOSprofile some of the players that may be on the Patriots radar that we feel would be a great fit.

The Patriots have a need at defensive tackle following the release of Dominique Easley this week. More specifically the team again has a need for an interior defensive lineman that is good against the run but can penetrate into the backfield as well as pressure the quarterback and collapse the pocket.

The team brought in a trio of big-bodied run stuffers in Frank Kearse, Terrance Knighton and Markus Kuhn which will help the run defense that suffered the loss of both Akiem Hicks and Sealver Siliga during the off-season. Now the team must try to replace the interior pocket push of Easley and Hicks.



The team used a nice rotation last year of rookie Malcom Brown, Alan Branch, Hicks and Easley during 2015. With Chris Jones being released on Friday along with Ishmaa’ily Kitchen, don’t rule out his returning this season, he’s provided a bit of pocket push at times and Brown in his second season will be looked to, to add some production there as well. Jones’ contract will probably get re-done at a more team friendly cap hit. On the roster right now the team has DTs Malcom Brown, Alan Branch, Terrance Knighton, Markus Kuhn, Frank Kearse and Joe Vellano.

The Patriots will look to the draft to find some depth for a big man that can push the pocket, penetrate inside and provide run support as well.

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Norfolk State nose tackle deals with major losses

NORFOLK, Virginia -- Walter Brantley IV has had a terrible spring.

He’s missed assignments, forgotten play calls and has, at times, appeared lost in a haze at practice.

But his coaches and teammates at Norfolk State understand and empathize with the hulking nose tackle.

In ways most of them can’t possibly comprehend, Brantley has had a terrible year.

Last May, just a few days apart, both of Brantley’s grandmothers died.

On Jan. 23, his paternal grandfather, Walter Brantley II, died of what players say they believe was heartache from the loss of his wife after a 26th year of dialysis treatment.

And then on Feb. 22, a crushing, final blow: Walter Brantley III, a popular and outgoing barber in Hampton who, his son said, “never missed a game, ever” died of congestive heart failure at 47.

So it’s easy for his peers to pardon the occasional moments when the friendly rising sophomore from Phoebus High thinks he sees his late father standing on the sidelines mid-play, only to forget exactly what he’s trying to accomplish in the present.

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Williams signs with Norfolk State

SANBORN, New York -- Niagara County Community College sophomore Kyle Williams signed a National Letter of Intent to continue his basketball and academic endeavors at NCAA Division I Norfolk State University on Friday.

Williams, a 6-foot-5 guard, was a second team All-Region III selection this past winter after averaging a team-high 16.1 points per game. The sharp-shooter knocked down 55 3-pointers in just 18 games of action.

"We're very excited for Kyle to receive this opportunity," NCCC head coach Bill Beilein said. "He's worked extremely hard to get to this point. We look forward to seeing him continue to grow on and off the court at Norfolk State."

COURTESY NIAGARA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Why GSU treated end of spring as if it was week after Bayou Classic

GRAMBLING, Louisiana — Broderick Fobbs is always on the prowl to find ways to prepare his Grambling football team for a Southwestern Athletic Conference title run.

His latest move involved extending spring practice by almost a week following last weekend's spring game.

Instead of ending the spring like almost every college program in the country, Fobbs held four additional practices concluding with Friday's session at Eddie Robinson Stadium.

As for the reasoning behind it, Grambling missed out on several practices during last month's flood, so instead of trying to cram them all in before the April 9 game, Fobbs purposely extended the spring by six more days to simulate the week after the Bayou Classic.

"It is it's normally the biggest game of the year. When you play in (the Bayou Classic) and then you have a championship game the following week, the toughest thing is to play very well, receive all of the pats on the back and then put that behind you so you can get refocused on Sunday and practice the right way for the championship week," Fobbs told ...

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North Marion's Mackey to play football at FAMU

Cameron Mackey

North Marion High School

Sport: Football

Position: Running back/slot receiver

Individual accolades: Cameron Mackey is a 5-foot-10, 180-pound speedy offensive weapon who rushed for 1,032 yards on 110 carries with 10 touchdowns during his senior season at North Marion. As a receiver, Mackey caught 19 balls for 267 yards and one TD. The Star-Banner first-teamer returned three kickoffs for touchdowns and was second on the Colts in total yards with 1,521.

Most memorable moment: Mackey talks about the Colts' 65-58 loss to Green Cove Springs Clay in the Region 2-5A semifinals. In that game, Mackey rushed for 131 yards and helped put the Colts in position for what could have been the game-tying score in the final seconds. He also scored on runs of 6 and 44 yards and on a 2-point conversion. "We were down 15-0 and came back and fought the whole game," Mackey said. "Unfortunately though, we came up a little short."

FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY

NCAA level: Division I

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North Carolina A&T Bowling Arrives In New Jersey Ready to Win

The N.C. A&T bowling goes selfie Wednesday afternoon at Brunswick Zone Carolier.  try to win the school's first-ever NCAA national championship.

NORTH BRUNSWICK, North Carolina – Please forgive senior Emily Strombeck if she is just a little confident and proud to be a North Carolina A&T Aggie competing at the NCAA Women’s Bowling Championships to be played at Brunswick Zone Carolier Thursday-Saturday.

When Strombeck arrived in Greensboro from Durham N.C. A&T had won only 32 times in 141 tries over the previous two seasons. Strombeck, who comes from a family of bowlers, certainly had other college options. Instead of choosing those other options, she decided to be the cornerstone of a once proud program that had fallen on hard times.

Four years later she has a resume that makes her the undisputed greatest bowler in school history with four first-team all-conference recognitions, the MEAC Rookie of the Year award in 2012-13, N.C. A&T Female Freshman of the Year honor, MEAC Bowler of the Year as a sophomore and junior, N.C. A&T Female Athlete of the Year as a sophomore and junior and she is a two-time National Tenpin Coaches Association All-American.

After Strombeck came fellow All-American MacKenzie Robinson and Kristin Shinn. Sophomore Kori Smith came two years after Strombeck. All of sudden the Aggies had the nucleus for a championship team – a national championship team. The Aggies won the 2015 were crowned national champions at the Intercollegiate Team Championships sponsored by the USBC. As the Aggies arrived in New Jersey on Wednesday in an effort to win the university’s first-ever NCAA national championship, Strombeck sounded like a lady gladly telling the nation the Aggies are no longer that team she signed up for in 2012.

“When I got here the program was really going through a tough spot,” said Strombeck Wednesday at a press conference. “My freshman year we just wanted to get to .500 to show the program was viable. My freshman year we got to .500 (49-48) and it just took off from there.”

Therefore, Strombeck and her teammates aren’t willing to take a back seat to any of the other seven teams at the NCAA championships.

“It helps to know we’ve played all the teams that are here this year, and we have beat all the teams who are here this year,” said Strombeck. “It’s not like we’re going to come in here the eighth seed and scared of everyone. That’s not the case. We’re going to be ready to bowl.”

N.C. A&T is ranked eighth in the nation by NTCA. They come in with a school-record 79 wins to go along with 38 losses. The Aggies are the eighth seed behind No. 1 Nebraska followed by Arkansas State, Vanderbilt, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, McKendree and Central Missouri. The Aggies have nine wins against the field including a 3-1 record against No. 3 seed Vanderbilt.

Competition begins with qualifying rounds in which each team bowls one five-person regular team game against each of the other seven participating teams. Teams will be seeded for bracket play based on their win-loss record during the qualifying rounds. At the conclusion of the qualifying rounds, teams will then compete in best-of-seven Baker matches in the double elimination tournament.

In the Baker format, each of the five team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. A Baker match tied at 3½ a piece after seven games will be decided by a tiebreaker using the Modified Baker format.

“When I came in four years ago we only had five people and no one knew who we really were and what our program was about,” said Strombeck. “It took us a good two years to rebuild which is what I came here to do. My goal before I left here was to compete for an NCAA title, so I’m really happy we accomplished that goal. Now we want to win it.”

COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Running point for one of college basketball's biggest events

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Jacqueline McWilliams landed her dream job four years ago when she became the first female commissioner of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

The CIAA conference, based in Charlotte, N.C., consists of 12 Division II historically black colleges and universities. The annual CIAA basketball tournament, the largest of 16 CIAA championships in a variety of sports, features 22 men’s and women’s games in the same week. It generates more than $55 million in economic impact for the city of Charlotte, totaling more than $325 million in the 11 years the tournament has been in the city.

Williams, 47, earned a bachelor’s in psychology from Hampton University, where she played basketball and volleyball. She earned a master’s in sports management and administration from Temple University, and went on to work as a college coach and administrator for the NCAA. Williams is on several boards, including the NCAA, the National Association of Collegiate Women in Athletic Administration and Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards.

I spoke with Williams about how she got the job, learning to say no and the mentor who taught her to always move up.

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Nuggets remain 15th in NAIA; Alcorn visits Thursday

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana is one of 14 teams whose ranking in Tuesday's NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll is the same as two weeks ago.
     
The Gold Nuggets (8-11) remained 15th. It's their 36th consecutive appearance in the top 25 and their 81st in the last 91 polls dating to Feb. 25, 2004.
     
Xavier will play its final home dual of the season at noon Thursday at XU Tennis Center against NCAA Division I's Alcorn State. Honored in a prematch ceremony will be seniors Vashni Balleste, Brion Flowers and Jana van der Walt.
     
Alcorn will be the Gold Nuggets' seventh NCAA DI opponent this season.
     
The national rankings are the NAIA's sixth of the season. Defending national champion Auburn Montgomery received 8-of-14 first-place votes and remained No. 1. Two points behind AUM is Georgia Gwinnett, which received the remainder of the first-place votes. The top six teams are the same as the previous poll.

NAIA Women's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through April 10) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Auburn Montgomery (8) 16-3 369 1 2 Georgia Gwinnett (6) 11-2 367 2 3 Lindsey Wilson 12-4 350 3 4 SCAD Savannah 14-1 337 4 5 Cardinal Stritch 11-1 325 5 6 Brenau 14-4 315 6 7 Westmont 7-7 289 8 8 Middle Georgia 13-6 285 7 9 Indiana Wesleyan 26-6 283 9 10 Arizona Christian 16-3 256 10 11-tie William Woods 10-2 236 18 11-tie Davenport 17-5 236 16 13 Keiser 10-7 230 12 14 William Carey 10-10 219 13 15 Xavier 8-11 210 15 16 Cumberland 9-7 204 14 17 Northwestern Ohio 8-7 202 11 18 Olivet Nazarene 3-4 179 17 19 Lewis-Clark State 7-13 152 19 20 St. Thomas (Fla.) 8-7 144 20 21 LSU-Alexandria 8-5 138 22 22 McPherson 6-4 123 21 23 SCAD Atlanta 8-3 104 23 24 Mobile 10-5 102 24 25 Marian (Ind.) 14-6 74 25   Dropped from rankings:  none      Others receiving votes:  Georgetown (Ky.) 73, Southeastern (Fla.) 50, Ottawa 43, Reinhardt 40, San Diego Christian 12, Evangel 11, Asbury 10, Texas Wesleyan 8, Campbellsville 6, Dalton State 4, Morningside 3, Southwestern (Kan.) 3

Gold Rush are No. 3 in NAIA for 4th consecutive poll

NEW ORLEANS — Georgia Gwinnett, Auburn Montgomery and Xavier University of Louisiana are 1-2-3 in the NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll for the fourth consecutive time.
     
The top-25 appearance is the 74th in a row for the Gold Rush (12-5). It's Xavier's 44th straight top-10 ranking.
     
Xavier is 8-0 against NAIA teams, and half of those victories are against top-10 opponents. The Gold Rush have two victories against No. 10 William Carey and one apiece against No. 4 Northwestern Ohio and No. 5 Keiser.
     
Xavier will play its final home dual of the season at noon Thursday at XU Tennis Center against NCAA Division I's Alcorn State. Honored in a prematch ceremony will be seniorsManav Chakma, Kevin Chaouat and Kyle Montrel.
     
Alcorn will be Xavier's 10th NCAA DI opponent this season. XU seeks a school-record fifth victory this season against DIs.
     
The national rankings are the NAIA's sixth of the season. Two-time defending national champion Georgia Gwinnett (19-0) is unanimously No. 1 for the sixth time. The top eight teams are the same as the previous poll.

NAIA Men's Tennis Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through April 10) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Georgia Gwinnett (13) 19-0 343 1 2 Auburn Montgomery 14-4 331 2 3 Xavier 12-5 322 3 4 Northwestern Ohio 11-3 310 4 5 Dalton State 15-4 299 5 6 Keiser 17-2 288 6 7 Lindsey Wilson 11-3 276 7 8 Coastal Georgia 11-2 265 8 9 San Diego Christian 9-3 253 11 10 William Carey 11-6 248 10 11 Aquinas 17-5 221 13 12 McPherson 7-6 215 12 13 Lewis-Clark State 9-7 209 20 14 Cardinal Stritch 7-1 206 14 15 Reinhardt 9-2 173 15 16 Westmont 7-7 172 9 17 Mobile 10-6 168 25 18 Campbellsville 8-5 163 17 19 Olivet Nazarene 6-2 145 18 20 Middle Georgia 11-8 143 16 21 Bethany (Kan.) 7-2 126 19 22 Warner 8-3 119 21 23 Cumberland 8-7 103 22 24 Asbury 5-3 76 23 25 Marian (Ind.) 15-7 67 24 Dropped from rankings:  none Others receiving votes:  Tennessee Wesleyan 56, Pikeville 44, Southeastern (Fla.) 42, Baker 27, Lawrence Tech 27, Indiana Wesleyan 10, Cumberlands 10, Loyola 6, Missouri Baptist 5

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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JSU secondary attempting to focus on next play, day

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Jackson State safeties coach LaMarcus Hicks communicates the same thing to his safeties every day.

"Be the master of your attitude," Hicks said. "No matter what happened the day before, the play before, you have to come with a positive attitude the next day, the next play. ... The same thing goes on game day. We have to keep playing and stay positive all the time."

That should be a good message for the safeties and the secondary as a whole to follow after the Tigers' latest scrimmage this past Saturday.

The defense surrendered five touchdowns through the air, all of which came from wide receivers.

"Last week, we came out kinda flat," JSU corner Zavian Bingham said. "And the offense kind of got on us a bit. We came out flat from the jump."

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Arcadia's Travious Fielding signs with Grambling hoops

ARCADIA, Louisiana — Marcus Jackson fondly remembers two stories about Travious Fielding, his star player at Arcadia High School.

The first dates back to Fielding's eighth grade season when he shed two tears, according to Jackson, who serves as Arcadia's boys basketball coach, when learning he couldn't practice due to a cold. The second happened earlier this year when Fielding, fresh off an ACL surgery, dove over the opposing team's bench against Simsboro.

On both occasions, Fielding's reasoning was the same. He didn't know any other way. He just loves to play basketball.

"I said I'm glad this guy is on my team," Jackson recalled.

Now, Fielding is on Grambling's team after signing with the school Wednesday afternoon, and Tigers coach Shawn Walker is also glad to now have him.

"He only knows one way to play and that's hard. He's tough. He defends and he'll be the catalyst to what we're trying to do defensively," Walker said Wednesday. "He's just a tough kid. He's a lamb off the floor and a dog on the floor."



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PVAMU names Ravon Justice new women's basketball head coach

COURTESY PVAMU ATHLETICS

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- Prairie View A&M athletic director Ashley Robinson an­nounced that Ravon Justice was hired to be the next head coach of the Lady Panthers women's basketball coach. She is the seventh head coach of the Lady Panthers since the start of the NCAA's women's basketball era in 1981.
 
Justice arrives at "The Hill" after seven seasons with the Uni­versity of Houston women's basketball team. She served as re­cruiting coordinator for the Cougars for the previous five years.
 
"I am very excited about the hiring of Coach Justice," Robin­son said. "She has a high basketball IQ and is someone who is going to bring a positive culture to the program."
 
One area in which Justice is expected to make an immediate impact is in the area of in-state recruiting. A native of Atlanta, Texas in the northeast corner of the state, Justice spent more than a decade as a top assistant collegiate coach in Houston, and played her sophomore basketball season in Clarendon College, located in the southern part of the Texas Panhandle.
 
"She is a great recruiter. There are few people in the coaching profession who have as much recruiting experience throughout the entire state of Texas as she does."
 
In Justice's first year at Houston in 2010-11, the Cougars enjoyed one of their finest seasons in program history, posting a 26-6 overall record and returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
 
With Justice's guidance, Houston point guard Porsche Landry earned Conference USA First Team honors and became only the fourth player in Cougars' women's basketball histo­ry to tally more than 1,000 points and 300 assists during her career.
 
Justice also made an immediate impact on the recruiting trail after taking over those duties following the 2010-11 sea­son, as various recruiting services ranked the early six-player class that signed in November of 2011 among the nation's top-40 recruiting hauls, including Dan Olson's Collegiate Girls Basketball Report (No. 22) and ESPN HoopGurlz (No. 39).
 
Justice joined the University of Houston staff after five sea­sons as an assistant at Houston Baptist. Before helping the Huskies team transition from the NAIA to the NCAA's Division I classification, Justice was a part of the 2005-06 team that completed an undefeated run to the Red River Athletic Confer­ence's regular season and tournament championships; HBU repeated as tournament champions the following season.
 
The Huskies would also make two trips to the NAIA Division I tournament during Justice's tenure with the team, including a trip to the quarterfinals in 2007.
During her own collegiate playing career, Justice attended Nicholls State for one year before transferring to Clarendon College. As a Lady Bulldog, she was named a junior college All-American in addition to receiving Western Junior College Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors.
 
Following her time at Clarendon, Justice played one season at Washington State before finishing her college career at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha.
 
As a senior at USAO, Justice averaged 19.3 points per game and captured All-Sooner Athletic Conference honors. She tallied the third-most points (521) in a single season in school history during the 2003-04 campaign, while setting school records in free throws (133) and free-throw attempts (214).
 
Justice earned her bachelor's degree in sociology from USAO in 2004 and received her master's degree in liberal arts from HBU in 2009.

COURTESY PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION