Five Lady Raiders capture conference honors
2/27/2010 – Five Raiders capture conference honors
By ADAM ROSENBERG Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4484 | arosenberg@nwfdailynews.com
NICEVILLE Although the Northwest Florida State College women's basketball team won't be participating in next week's FCCAA state tournament, the Raiders have plenty to be proud of about their 2009-2010 season.
This week, several Raiders were honored on an individual level as five NWF State players were named to the Panhandle Conference's All-Conference team.
The Raiders landed three players on the first team, matching Gulf Coast Community College for the most in the conference. Guards Shamar Harris and Myeiesha Simms and forward Josette Campbell were all given first team honors. Center Vontrice Dennis was named to the second team and forward Shavonne Seymore was an honorable mention. All five were sophomores.
Gulf Coast's Andrea Smith was named Player of the Year and Roonie Scovel was named Coach of the Year. Pensacola's Karneshia Garrett was named the conference's Freshman of the Year.
"All of (the Raiders honored) played a lot of minutes and that's not easy to do in this conference," NWF State coach Bart Walker said. "They all did a great job for us."
The fiery Harris was known for her passion and intensity on the court, not to mention her 16.5 points per game, which made her the state's seventh-leading scorer. Usually playing from the shooting guard spot, Harris also pulled down 4.6 rebounds per game.
"Shamar has got an outgoing personality," Walker said. "She plays through that personality. She wants the ball and she wants to make plays. That's one thing that's attractive to coaches at the next level."
Despite going in and out of the lineup with a severe ankle sprain in conference play, Campbell was a factor for much of the year. She averaged 12.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
"She was a good scorer and a consistent rebounder," Walker said. "When her injury occurred, she kind of settled in to being more of a perimeter shooter because she couldn't bang inside with that ankle. Not being on the court for much of the time and still getting voted onto the team shows how much the conference coaches respect her game."
Rounding out the first team trio is Simms, who's a little over 5 feet tall. Despite routinely playing 40 minutes per game, Simms played every second at full speed.
"She overcame her size throughout her whole career," Walker said. "She brings tempo to your team. Even though she had around six assists per game, it would have been about nine or 10 if we shot better. When we were behind, she usually sparked our rally."
Dennis made the second team thanks in large part to her ferocious rebounding. She pulled down 7.8 boards per game while adding almost 10 points per night. Honored as an honorable mention, Seymore often came off the bench for the Raiders and averaged 6.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
For Gulf Coast, Smith, Kyra Crosby and Taylor Dalrymple were named to the first team. Andrell Smith, Paige McCallum and Angie Felton made the second team for the Commodores.
Pensacola was represented by Garrett and Deana Allen on the first team and Jessica Merritt, Izzy Chilcott and Najat Ouardad on the second team. Tallahassee's Mana El and Porche' Bentley made the first team, Tyesha Robinson and Ashley White made the second team, and Keri Thomas and Samantha Smith were honorable mentions.
Rounding out the honorees were Chipola's Bianca Jarrett and Ty O'Neil on the first team, Lindsey Carr on the second team and honorable mentions Ance Celmina and Malesha Patterson.