The heart break of Saturday’s 83-77 loss against LSU is still fresh for Jackson State University. However the parting remark that coach Tomekia Reed left for her team rings with optimism for the JSU fan base.
“Honestly my message after today’s game was we have to continue to fight for our institution, for our conference. We have to continue to fight for our culture. We have to continue to knock on walls to get respect. We are knocking on walls, you have accomplished some things that hadn’t been accomplished in this program and in this conference. But now it’s time to come back and knock the walls down,” Reed said after Saturday’s game.
Resetting for next season
She continued with what the team has to physically do next season to knock down those aforementioned walls. Reed also hinted, not to discreetly, that her team faced an uphill battle in more than one way.
“We have to make a strong statement in preseason next year. Another strong statement. And we’re going to keep knocking until the respect is there. We’re going to keep knocking until we get the same as other institutions. We’re going to keep knocking because what happens is the transfer portal evens the playing field. And with the playing fields being even, all we ask is for everything to be fair across the board. Yes, we faced a very good team today. A very well-coached team. Yes, we came out with a game plan. Yes, we missed free throws. Yes, we made mistakes. But there was still some other things that played in on that and the world saw it. So for our institution, for our team, for our fight, we’re going to continue to knock until we knock those doors down,” she added.
One of the missing pieces for Jackson State next season will certainly be Ameshya Williams-Holliday. The SWAC player of the year averaged over 19 points and 11 rebounds per game and was a fierce rim protector. But as Reed said the transfer portal can quickly reset a team. Just last week Angel Jackson, a 6’5″ former post player at the University of Southern California announced she was headed to JSU. A combination of her, other transfers and returning members could send Tomekia Reed and JSU back to the NCAA Tournament and ready to advance in 2023.