Women’s Basketball Looks To Finish What They Started In 2020-21 With Core Intact

HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. – The Rust College women's basketball program will attempt to bring "All Da Smoke" and #RunItBack with most of its players returning from the reigning GCAC regular season champions as well as its 2019-20 NAIA Tournament squad.

The Lady Bearcats, who finished 13-2 and 5-1 in conference a season ago, will have eight of its best players rejoining the fray as All-GCAC selections Shay Johnson and Jasmine Coleman headline the returners. Others coming back to McMillan Center for another go-round are GCAC All-Tournament performer Maddie Riley, Katie Blackmon, Bionka Massie, India Green, Faith Cattouse and Tiamya Butler who is coming back from a torn Achilles.

The newcomers to Rust College are highly talented and expected to be immediate contributors as it consists of four JUCO transfers, three former NCAA Division I student-athletes and a freshman from Atlanta.

Mariah Mitchell (Grand Canyon), Karyn Ford (Northwestern State) and Jade Lewis (East Carolina) headline a strong class of mid-major division one players making the unprecedented jump from the sport's highest in pursuit of a championship. Niya McGuire (South Georgia Tech), Jade Hill (Northern New Mexico), Zoe Alexander (Santa Fe) and Molly Jones (Northwest Mississippi) make up the community college contingent with Patsy Johnson being the lone freshman on the roster by way of Maynard Jackson High School.

Shay Johnson was a two-time GCAC Player of the Week in 2020-21 and logged a double-double in a rout of Southeastern Baptist in the season opener with 11 points and ten assists. She was named to the All-GCAC First Team and All-Defensive Team, ranking 14th in the nation in assists per game (5.08) and fifth in the conference for points per contest (12.85).

Coleman landed on the All-GCAC Second Team as well as the All-Defensive Team a season ago, picking up GCAC Player Of The Week honors on December 7, 2020. The Ganado, Arizona native led the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.70), second in three-pointers per game (2.08), fourth for three-point percentage (31.0) and fifth regarding steals per game (2.54).

Riley was named to the GCAC All-Tournament Team and posted a ten-point, 17-rebound double-double against Crowley's Ridge. She appeared in all 13 games for the Lady Bearcats, averaging just over five points and rebounds a night while connecting on 62.7% of her attempts from the floor.

Blackmon finished fourth in the league with nine rebounds a night, logged a 12-point, ten-board double-double versus Harris-Stowe State and has 31 career double-doubles to her credit.

Massie made seven starts while averaging nearly an assist per game (0.92) in 2020-21.

Green started 12 games for Coach Jackson, hitting 47.7% of her shots while averaging eight points and 5.3 rebounds per night.

Cattouse produced a stat line of 77 points, 33 rebounds, ten assists, nine steals and a block last year.

Butler was a beast in her last full season at Eastern Oklahoma State (2018-19), going off for 13.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds a night to go along with 48 steals. As a Lady Bearcat in 2019-20, she went for 8.6 points, 3.7 assists, 2.6 boards and 1.5 steals a night while converting 53.4% of her field goal attempts.

Mitchell appeared in 18 games while averaging 9.8 minutes during her lone season with the Antelopes, scoring 28 points, grabbing 11 boards, and swiping eight steals. Before enrolling at Grand Canyon, she was a scoring machine for Henry Ford College, exploding for 22.7 points per game as the NJCAA's top scorer.

Ford missed the entire 2020-21 season due to injury but contributed 37 points, 29 rebounds, nine steals, three assists and a block for the Demons in 2019-20 over 27 contests.

Lewis made 14 appearances with the Pirates in 2018-19, averaging 4.3 points and 1.7 boards in 15 minutes per game plus she had 16 points in her ECU debut against Maryland-Eastern Shore. Prior to her stop in Greenville, the Jacksonville, Florida native lit it up Northwest Florida Community College, averaging 11.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game where she was named All-Panhandle First Team in 2017-18. The Panhandle Conference is the best league in the NJCAA and has produced four of the last five JUCO National Champions.

McGuire helped the Lady Jets to a 22-4 overall mark, 13-2 in the region, as she averaged 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while shooting 55% from the field.

Hill has not appeared on the hardwood since February 2, 2018, in which she went for ten points in her lone contest for the Eagles.

Alexander played in 26 games for Santa Fe College in 2019-20 with the former Saint bringing a balanced approach to the stat sheet with 8.9 points, six rebounds and 1.2 assists on average whenever she stepped on the court.

Jones will make the short 35-miles trek from Northwest Mississippi CC to Holly Springs, trading in her red and blue Rangers jersey for blue and silver Lady Bearcats threads.

Patsy Johnson was an All-State performer out of Georgia's AAAAA Class and was ranked as the 19th-best point guard in the Peach State heading into the 2020-21 campaign.

Coach Jackson and the Lady Bearcats open the 2021-22 campaign against Florida Memorial and Wilberforce at a neutral site before coming back to Holly Springs to receive their GCAC Championship rings at halftime of the home opener versus Oakwood on October 27.