Pack the Stands our Girls are Coming Home,

The Nationally #1 Ranked Jefferson County Community College Girls Basketball team to play at Penn Valley Community College this Wednesday  January 21st at 6:00 pm. Penn Valley is located at 3200 Southwest Trafficway. The team is lead by five girls that played for the Kansas City Keys team under Coach Harrel Johnson.  They will play against two of their former teammates who played on the Keys team coached by Harrel Johnson. The Jefferson Girls (former Keys) include; Danielle Adams (Lee’s Summit), LaToya Johnson (Lincoln Prep), Shaylisa Williams (Bishop Miege), Trolisa Williams (Bishop Miege) and Cherakie Barrett (Raytown High School). The Penn Valley Girls include;  Jasmine Taylor (Raytown South), and Tekoyia Trice (Lincoln Prep).

The Jefferson team ranked 7th overall in the nation for 2007/2008.  Danielle Adams was selected as a 1st team All-American and Latoya Johnson All-American Honorable mention and Academic All-American.

 Here is a recap of their season:

 BASKETBALL

#1 Jefferson Gets By Tough Mineral Area 71-52, Goes to 18-0, 3-0  (1/14/09)

The Lady Vikings jumped out to a 15-4 lead and then held off scrappy rival Mineral Area College Wednesday night at Park Hills. The All-American duo of Danielle Adams and LaToya Johnson scored 23 and 21 points respectively and freshman Porsha Porter added 13 to go along with 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Adams and Johnson also contributed 4 steals apiece. Every Viking played in the win, which was the 6th victory in a row for the Vikings over Mineral Area.

Jefferson (18-0) Hosts Crowder (6-9) Saturday at 4 PM

This Saturday at 4 PM the Vikings host Region XVI foe Crowder College. Crowder is coached by former Southwest Missouri State U. and Joplin H.S.  standout,  Tina Robbins. Crowder lost twice to the Vikings last season and both games were hard fought to the end.  Jefferson has a chance to pick up their 19th win of the season, and maintain their ’08-’09 undefeated string before their 11 day break. Jeffco’s next game, after Crowder, will be away at Penn Valley CC in Kansas City on January 21st.

Feels Like the First Time! (But It’s Not)

Success is nothing new to Jefferson College Women’s basketball. Ron Rhodes won 30 games three times during his tenure and took two teams to the NJCAA National Tourney. Gary Koch (current Mineral coach) won 28, 23, and 20 games the three years prior to Coach Kevin Emerick taking over the Jefferson program in ‘06-’07. The #1 Vikings do have a chance this season to do something “new” and that is, navigate tough, tough, Region XVI play and make the trip to Salina three years in a row! No Viking team has done that! 
 
Coach, I’m Doing Good………..Right!

The Lady Vikings compiled roughly a 2.8 team GPA the first semester and will have their work cut out for them in the spring if they want to maintain their streak of getting at least a 3.0 + team GPA. Faculty and tutors at Jefferson are second to none, and Jason Gardner (Student Athlete Success Coordinator) along with the coaching staff, will be monitoring the Vikings academics closely throughout the spring semester. After all, it is the” SHOW ME” state. The response to the question, how you doin’ in class? (“Coach, I’m doin’ good”) will be on the “trust but verify” plan early this semester!

Former Lady Vikings Making an Impact at the Next Level (1/14/09)

In addition to our ’08-’09 team being ranked #1 NJCAA, many former Jeffco student-athletes are also continuing the Viking tradition at other schools. January is a good time to reflect on the past seasons’ success and catch up with our players. We miss them all.

The ’06-’07 team was 31-5 and won Region XVI and MCCAC conference titles on the way to the NJCAA National Tourney. The ’06-’07 team also touted 4 NJCAA Academic All-Americans, Kallie Huff, Amanda Essner, Kandy Beemer, and Ewelina Skardzinska.  C.T. Kintchen was Region XVI player of the year and an NJCAA All-American. That Viking team finished 5th in the NJCAA academically.

The ’07-’08 team also posted Region and Conference championships enroute to a 32-3 mark with an Elite Eight finish at Salina. That team was named NJCAA Academic Team-of-the-Year, and also had the Region XVI Player-of-the-Year in Danielle Adams, who along with LaToya Johnson, were both NJCAA All-Americans.