{"id":1594,"date":"2025-03-23T00:50:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T05:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=1594"},"modified":"2025-03-28T12:51:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T17:51:30","slug":"jccc-womens-basketball-team-triumphs-securing-national-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/03\/23\/jccc-womens-basketball-team-triumphs-securing-national-title\/","title":{"rendered":"JCCC Women’s Basketball Team Triumphs, Securing National Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cavaliers celebrate their National Championship win. (Photo by: Audrey Hook.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

In a heated game versus the #6 seed, Pima Community College, the #4 seed JCCC women\u2019s basketball team came out on top at the NJCAA Women\u2019s Basketball Championship game with a final score of 75-67.<\/span><\/p>\n

A close game throughout, halftime ended 36-33 with Pima not far behind the Cavs. Halftime was crucial for Head Coach Ben Conrad to keep momentum up for his girls in order to keep the lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[At halftime I] just talked about how we\u2019re in great shape,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cWe\u2019re up three. We made some mistakes and if we can clean those mistakes up we could kind of push this lead in the next 20 minutes. That\u2019s pretty much exactly what happened.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The second half kept up the close score line with the teams staying level for a majority of the third quarter. One team scored, the other simply kept right up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A jump shot from Aa\u2019Mya Stacker was the beginning of the surge that sent the Cavs ahead of the Aztecs. Layla Scott sent two, 3-point jump shots straight into the net making the gap between the two teams even greater.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter, defense did not let up and kept Pima off the score sheet for a good portion of the 10 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The game went down to the wire until a couple fouls on Pima led to several locked in free throw points for the Cavs, which secured them the win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Celebrations came easy for the team, immediately they were handed championship hats and shirts while \u201cAll I Do Is Win\u201d by DJ Khaled started blasting throughout the gymnasium.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coach Conrad feels validated to have won the championship. Even though this isn\u2019t Conrad\u2019s first championship, it is the first for all of the players.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels amazing. It\u2019s incredible validation of all the work we\u2019ve done. You just feel so good for the kids. I\u2019ve done this before so it\u2019s one of those things where if you\u2019ve never won a national title you just don\u2019t know what it feels like until you do it. All these kids, this is their first one,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cFor me it\u2019s just incredibly validating for them to do this.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Freshman guard, Layla Scott, shared the same sentiment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels amazing,\u201d Scott gushed. \u201cEspecially coming in as a freshman, you never know what is going to happen. It feels really great. I enjoyed every part of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Layla Scott and Tony Tompkins after Scott was named MVP. (Photo by: Audrey Hook.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Scott dominated the scoring with 25 points and was named the MVP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels really great,\u201d Scott said. \u201cI never expected me to get it. Everyone was like \u2018Layla, you got it. You got it,\u2019 but I didn\u2019t want to get a big head. I wanted to keep working towards wherever I wanted to go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Coach Conrad thought that Scott definitely deserved the award.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHer production these last two games was just unbelievable,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cShe\u2019s just impressive. She deserved it, absolutely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still on cloud nine, freshman guard Heaven Smith, shared that the team\u2019s win hasn\u2019t completely sunk in for her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, this feels unreal,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt still hasn\u2019t even hit me yet. I\u2019m so proud of my team. I\u2019m so proud of all of us. This was really a team effort, wasn\u2019t nobody individually. We really had each other\u2019s backs and came out and did what we were supposed to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Basketball is a family affair for Scott. Not only did she get to win a national championship, she got to share in the team\u2019s win with her sister, sophomore guard Taliyah Scott.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long road and it\u2019s all worth it because we\u2019ve been practicing together ever since we were little,\u201d Scott explained. \u201cNow we\u2019re on the court together in a national championship game. It feels amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To win the game, Coach Conrad believes that Pima getting tired sealed the deal for the Cavs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just stayed the course and kept following the plan,\u201d Conrad explained. \u201cWe kept working for 40 minutes. I think in the fourth quarter we wore them down. I thought they got tired and I thought we didn\u2019t. I think that\u2019s really it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott credits the sophomore players and their great example for the freshmen having an impact on everyone working together for the win.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I think when our sophomores took leadership on the court,\u201d Scott said. \u201cI think everybody played a role in winning the championship game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith believes that the team\u2019s defense played the most important role in winning the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely our defense for sure,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI think that’s what it is for all of our games. Our defense is unmatched. A lot of teams haven\u2019t seen the type of defense that we play. We have a lot of athletes and a very deep bench and a lot of depth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the flip side, Smith runs the ball down the court a lot as she is a point guard on offense. When asked what is running through her mind when she is handling the ball, she had this to say:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me my mindset is just attack, pace, speed,\u201d Smith explained. \u201cA lot of teams can\u2019t handle the speed that we have in our point guard spots. So just get in, get out there, and push the ball.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Big tournaments like this can pose different challenges and Conrad believes that the biggest challenge of the tournament for them was the size difference between JCCC and the other teams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust the size and physicality of all these teams,\u201d Conrad explained. \u201cYou look at the top five or six teams here, we were the smallest team. They were big. All these teams were big and physical. That was our biggest thing. Just trying to survive being smaller.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith thought that the biggest obstacle that the team had to overcome was physical injuries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge for us was players being healthy,\u201d Smith stated. \u201cWe had a lot of injuries throughout the team. I feel like that was really the main challenge that we had had. All of us sucked it up, came out here, and did what we [were] supposed to do to get the \u2018ship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall Conrad\u2019s favorite part of the season was teaching the game. Tonight\u2019s win will most likely overshadow his love for teaching though.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite part is always in October when we are putting in the system in the teaching a lot,\u201d Conrad said. \u201cI really enjoy that. I think that\u2019s the teacher in me, the educator. It\u2019s a ton of just teaching the game, teaching our system. That\u2019s my favorite but I\u2019d say this is probably going to top that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith has loved this whole season. The biggest moment for her was tonight when she got to win the championship with a team she considers family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole season it\u2019s just been very special for me,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI had a really good season with this team. We\u2019ve all had a really good season with the team. I would say the biggest moment was tonight. Just enjoying the moment. Being with them, it\u2019s really like a family for us. It was just very special to have this moment with us and the coaches. Very heartwarming for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The JCCC Cavaliers\u00a0 are your 2025 NJCAA DII Women\u2019s Basketball Champions, after going 34-1 this season. Their effort and hard work paid off and they got the title to show for it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe Cavaliers put their name under ‘Champions’ on the NJCAA bracket. (Photo by: Audrey Hook.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The JCCC Cavaliers\u00a0 are your 2025 NJCAA DII Women\u2019s Basketball Champions, after going 34-1 this season. Their effort and hard work paid off and they got the title to show for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001,"featured_media":1596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8],"tags":[121,76,169,171,172],"ppma_author":[128,127],"class_list":["post-1594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports","tag-aamya-stacker","tag-ben-conrad","tag-heaven-smith","tag-layla-scott","tag-national-champions"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Elizabeth Taylor","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/03\/23\/jccc-womens-basketball-team-triumphs-securing-national-title\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG_0371.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/03\/23\/jccc-womens-basketball-team-triumphs-securing-national-title\/","display_name":"Elizabeth Taylor"},{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/03\/23\/jccc-womens-basketball-team-triumphs-securing-national-title\/","display_name":"Audrey Hook"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Featured<\/a>","Sports<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Featured<\/span>","Sports<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Aa'Mya Stacker<\/a>","Ben Conrad<\/a>","Heaven Smith<\/a>","Layla Scott<\/a>","National Champions<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Aa'Mya Stacker<\/span>","Ben Conrad<\/span>","Heaven Smith<\/span>","Layla Scott<\/span>","National Champions<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 23, 2025","modified":"Updated on March 28, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 23, 2025 12:50 am","modified":"Updated on March 28, 2025 12:51 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":128,"user_id":1001,"is_guest":0,"slug":null,"display_name":"Elizabeth Taylor","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c66e30782a78843059dfef77721e16c4ab3c33e647c30690c4e541a9bd8d151?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Elizabeth","last_name":"Taylor","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""},{"term_id":127,"user_id":1002,"is_guest":0,"slug":null,"display_name":"Audrey Hook","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f79c3a45a811c37a7a31efddbe79249f44c62f7ea8b9766c81a5f622e4c0fffb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Audrey","last_name":"Hook","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/03\/IMG_0371.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1594"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1600,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1594\/revisions\/1600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1594"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}