City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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The Harcum women’s basketball team made history last winter, reaching the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II Final Four for the first time.

Some of the pieces are different, but the Bears are headed back to the national tournament for the second straight year. They’ll tip off Monday in Joplin, Mo. as the No. 10 seed in the 20-team tournament with eyes on another historic run.

“From Day 1, we’ve been talking about competing for a national championship,” Harcum fourth-year coach Riley Maye said on the phone earlier this week. “This team definitely has the pieces to do it. But I’m not naive enough to think a lot of luck doesn’t go into winning an event like that, timing, matchups and stuff like that.”

Even before the tournament begins, this is already another special season at Harcum (26-5), which entered the postseason ranked No. 12 nationally.

The Bears knocked off the No. 1 team in the country when they beat CCBC Essex on Nov. 8. They lost just one home game this season. They reached another Region 19 championship game and won a second straight East District B Championship with a 44-42 win over Sullivan County Community College — a victory that secured the team’s spot at nationals. 

This is Harcum’s fourth NJCAA National Tournament appearance since the program debuted in 2004-05. The Bears first made an appearance in 2011, they returned seven years later in 2018 and after a four-year absence got back in 2023.

Despite sending off five players to four-year universities, including first team All-American Amaris Baker, who is now at Drexel, Harcum is back making consecutive national tournament appearances for the first time in program history.

“We’ve had tunnel vision, so we’ve kind of had to slow down and smell the roses a little bit,” Maye said. “I want them to be able to enjoy this experience, not just be so locked into winning a national championship that we don’t recognize some of the successes that we’ve had.”

Sophomores T’Nyah Riggins, Mikaela Parris, Ayneigejah Ferguson-Dugas and Ellie Jansen-Holton were the key returners from Harcum heading into the season, and they’ve all seen their roles expand in different ways. 

Parris, a 5-foot-9 wing from Canada, is second on the team in scoring (10.5 ppg) and rebounding (4.4 rpg). Jansen-Holton (8.7 ppg) and Ferguson-Dugas (8.1 ppg) are third and fourth on the team. Riggins leads the team in assists (3.7 apg).

“Those kids all had really good experiences last year going to nationals,” Maye said. “They all had pretty big moments at nationals as well, so I’m hoping that experience helps us next week.”

Redshirt-sophomore Ciara Bailey, a 6-foot-2 center from Bristol, Pa., has been the top player on the team, coming to Harcum this year after starting her career at Towson University. She leads the team in scoring (12.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.8 rpg). Bailey also ranks 12th nationally in blocks (2.6 bpg).

Coatesville product Dejah Morris, Penn Charter product Kelsey Bess, who spent most of her junior and senior seasons injured, and Life Center product Camryn Graham, a Chester native, have been three of the most impactful freshmen.

Last season, the Bears played through Baker, who led the country in scoring. This season is a more of a balanced group as Maye said he plays as many as 13 or 14 players.

“Not too many teams get to do that, so that’s definitely been a positive for us,” Maye said. “We’ve had kids who have been our quote on quote last kid come in and be the best player on a given day. It’s nice that we kind of have that depth.”

The group ranks eighth nationally in scoring (83.5 ppg) and fourth in scoring defense (49.5 ppg). Maye’s been even more impressed by his team’s defense as of late, holding their last five opponents under 60 points.

“Our kids have steadily gotten better throughout the year,” Maye said. “We’re peaking defensively right now. We gotta figure some things out on offense to get them going into next week, but we’ve been playing really defensively.”

In addition to Baker, Jasmyn Jefferies (Claflin University), Aniyah Bond (Wilmington University) Marcy Brackett (St. Thomas University) and Sara Aumer (Coker University) all earned scholarship opportunities following last season’s Harcum run.

Along with some hardware, the Bears will be chasing a few more college looks during their trip to Joplin. Last season there were at least 15 coaches at every game.

“This is a great opportunity,” Maye said. “That’s one reason we push to get to nationals, so hard is just because if you have a great game in front of the right set of eyes, it could change your life. You could be going to school for free.”