National Park College's basketball teams were swept at home on Thursday by Southern Arkansas University Tech, beginning with an 82-56 loss in the women's game.
The Nighthawks (3-8, 0-2) enjoyed hot starts from sophomores Faith Bratton, of Jessieville, and Bailey Womack, of Fountain Lake, to take an 18-17 lead after the first quarter against a fellow member of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Region 2. Their shots fell silent in the second quarter as the visiting Rockets (8-4, 1-0) outscored the Nighthawks, 22-8, to take a 39-26 lead into the halftime break.
The Nighthawks utilized 3-pointers from sophomore Hailee Crosby, of Mountain Pine, and free throws Womack to ouscored the Rockets in the third quarter. SAU Tech surged ahead with 28 points in the final quarter to seal the victory.
Womack led the Nighthawks with 21 points. Bratton added 12 points.
National Park College and SAU Tech are ineligible for postseason competition as first-year members of the NJCAA. The Nighthawks have lost two tournament games and one conference matchup to North Arkansas College (15-4, 1-0).
Arkansas State University Mid-South was forced to cancel the remainder of its 2018-19 season due to student-athlete ineligibility. The Lady Greyhounds were 0-11 to start the season, including an 83-73 loss to the Nighthawks on Nov. 9 in the Lady Greyhound Classic in West Memphis.
"This is an isolated situation, and we certainly plan to resume play for the 2019-20 season and beyond," Mid-South Athletic Director Chris Parker said last month.
"We are implementing an action plan to insure this does not happen in the future, and we look forward to the opportunity to build a much more stable program moving forward."
Mid-South was left with four eligible student-athletes. The roster was already undersized after first-year head coach Mercedes Corona was left with a truncated timeframe for recruiting. Corona and Parker said the program plans to fill all 15 scholarship positions on the roster for the 2019-20 season.
North Arkansas College will represent the conference at the Division II Women's Basketball Championship in March. The Division II national tournament will return March 19-23 to Pioneer Pavilion in Harrison.
The NJCAA, alongside the NJCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Coaches Association and in conjunction with the NCAA and the Commission on College Basketball, also announced from Charlotte, N.C., on Friday new legislation will permit offseason practice and competition dates to adapt to new summer recruiting rules passed by the NCAA.
NJCAA member programs will be permitted to have student-athletes on campus from June 16 through July 1 this summer; June 14-29, 2020; and June 13-29, 2021. Students must have been enrolled full-time in the previous spring semester, be currently enrolled in the summer semester, enrolled full-time in the upcoming fall semester, have a current letter of intent for the upcoming academic year and have a physical on file.
The new rules are intended to take advantage of the NCAA's new summer recruiting rules and give student-athletes a platform to be evaluated by coaches from four-year programs. NJCAA coaches will be the point of contact to help build relationships and connections to the NCAA and NAIA.
"Our association is excited about the new legislation," stated Brandan Harrell, president of the NJCAA Women's Basketball Coaches Association. "We believe that it is a step forward in the recruiting and exposure for our student-athletes.
"Anytime we are able to give our student-athletes more opportunities, we are doing the right thing. This change will have an instant positive impact for our young men and women."
Sports on 01/19/2019