The quest for a national championship starts this week for the Southwest Tennessee Community College men’s and women’s basketball team. The state tournament will be played in Cleveland, Tenn. from March 1-5.
The No. 6 seeded Lady Saluqis (11-12) will face No. 3 seed Chattanooga State (19-8) in a quarterfinal matchup. The Lady Saluqis are led by sophomore forward Takya Bennett, who is the conference’s second-leading scorer at 18.3 points per game and also ranks fourth in the TCCAA in rebounding with an 8.9 average. The game will be played on March 2 at 8 p.m.
Also in the starting lineup for head coach Andrea Martre are sophomore forward Tamia Curry (13.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game), sophomore guards Aliyah Foote (9.1 points and 3.7 assists per game), Candace Gaines (6.3 points and 3.1 assists per game) and freshman guard Tia Bland (14.0 points and 2.8 assists per game).
The men’s basketball team (15-9) led by first-year head coach and former Memphis Tiger Cedric Henderson will open up play on Sunday, March 3 at 8 p.m. against the sixth seed Columbia State (19-11).
Southwest is led by freshman forward Cedric Henderson Jr., who ranks third in the TCCAA with an average of 18.2 points per game, and sophomore forward Anthony Yarbrough, who averages 12.7 points per game and ranks fifth in the conference in rebounds (7.9 per game) and second in field goal percentage (62.2).
Other probable starters are freshman point guard Justin Batts (4.9 points and 3.7 assists per game), sophomore guard Malik Anderson (5.2 points per game) and sophomore forward Michael Reese (3.4 points per game). Freshman guard Christian Jones adds 10.3 points and 3.3 assists per game off the bench.
Championship games are scheduled for March 5 at 2 p.m. (women) and 4 p.m. (men) with the winners advancing to the NJCAA championships March 18-23 (men in Hutchinson, Kansas; women in Lubbock, Texas).
