South Carolina HBCU Sports This Week

Benedict Women's Basketball Adds 10 Newcomers For 2022-23

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Benedict head women's basketball coach James Rice has announced the addition of 10 student-athletes for the 2022-23 school year.

Joining the two-time reigning SIAC champions are three transfers and seven freshmen.

"The staff and I are excited about our women's basketball 2022 recruiting class," Rice said. "This is one of the largest recruiting classes we've had in a very long time. All of our recruits understand the program's goals and objectives on and off the court. Our program's standards have always been set high. With our skillful returnees along with the addition of this year's talented recruiting class, we all are looking forward to the many challenges and obstacles in our path ahead."

The signees are:

Shakera Duncan, a 5-foot-11 guard from Houston, Texas and Evan E. Worthing Sr High School. She was named 2022 All-District and All-Region after averaging 14.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and three assists.

Taia Gattis, a 6-foot-2 forward from Cross High School in Cross, S.C. She was a three-time All-State selection and averaged 16 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and four blocks during her senior season.

Leila Henderson, a 5-foot-9 guard from Newnam, Georgia and East Coweta High School. She was named to the 2022 Coweta All-County Team and 2022 GHSA All-Region Team.

Bre'Asia Lester, a 5-foot-9 guard from Gaston, S.C. and Airport High School.

Courtney McClaney, a 5-foot-10 forward from Cardinal O'Hara High School in Buffalo, New York. She averaged 8.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, two assists and was named to the 2022 All-Western New York team.

Shatyra Moree, a 6-foot-3 center sophomore transfer from USC-Salkehatchie and originally from Cross, S.C. and Cross High School. During her senior year at Cross High School, she averaged 15.9 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and was named 2019 All-District and All-Region.

Adiyah Owens, a 5-foot-8 point guard from High Point High School in Spartanburg, S.C. She averaged 12.5 points, 7.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game in helping High Point to the second round of the S.C. Class A playoffs and was named All-Region and All-State.

Nyekuar Quik, a 6-foot-5 center junior transfer from Hinds Community College and originally from Tacoma, Washington and Washington High School. She averaged 1.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks last season for Hinds.

Jenna Wilbon, a 6-foot forward from Hephzibah, Georgia, where she played for Cross Creek High School. She averaged 5 points and 6.2 rebounds and helped lead Cross Creek to a pair of state playoff runs.

Naomi Winston-Ellis, a 5-foot-11 transfer guard from East Los Angeles College, where she averaged 15 points and 7.6 rebounds. She was named South Coast Conference-South All-Conference after her freshman season in 2021-22. She is from Cajon, California, where she played at Gahr High School and averaged 12.3 points, 6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks as a senior in 2017-18.

South Carolina State Gives Buddy Pough Extension, Raise

SC State and Pough have reached a deal that will keep the veteran coach at his alma mater through the 2023 season, according to the Times and Democrat. The deal raises Pough's base salary to $287,000 and will run through Dec. 31, 2023.

Pough has been the head coach at South Carolina State since 2002, making him the longest-tenured coach in the MEAC by far, and one of the longest in college football period. He has won eight MEAC titles, including the 2021 title. The 2021 season culminated with a win in the Celebration Bowl over a highly-favored Jackson State program.

South Carolina State head coach Buddy Pough on the sidelines at the 2021 Celebration Bowl. (121921)

Buddy Pough told HBCU Gameday at MEAC Media Day that winning the Celebration Bowl took his recognition level up quite a bit.

"There are people out there who saw that game that I had no idea even knew we existed. So it was one of those kinds of situations where it kind of transcended the actual, usual fan base of what would be an HBCU deal. Everybody in South Carolina saw that game, so it was no one there who was not aware of who we were after that game."

That's saying quite a bit for a man who has been at the helm of a program that has produced dozens of NFL players, including All-Pros Javon Hargrave and Darius "Shaquille" Leonard.

And now he'll have the chance to produce more NFL players and chase more MEAC titles and Celebration Bowl wins.

SC State Hall of Famer Named Interim AD

ORANGEBURG, SC. – South Carolina State Hall of Famer Keshia Campbell has been named the interim director of athletics at her alma mater, the university announced Tuesday (Aug.9th). Campbell will assume her duties immediately.
Campbell, the second female athletics director to lead the SC State Program, brings a wealth of experience in athletics administration to the university, a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).
She returns to Orangeburg after serving several years in education in the public sector in South Carolina. She previously served as a senior associate commissioner at the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).
Prior to her stint at the CIAA, she was director of business affairs and lean coordinator at the University of Texas at Dallas and was promoted from assistant to associate director of championships at the NCAA(2006-2009).
Campbell is no stranger to the MEAC, as she formerly was employed at former MEAC member Hampton University where she served as an assistant director of athletics then was promoted to associate director of athletics for the Pirates (2004-2006). She returned to Hampton in 2011 as the director of athletics.
An SCSU Athletics Hall of Famer, the Blenheim, SC native was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year while playing for the Lady Bulldogs and is a member of the MEAC 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. She also served seven years as head women's basketball coach at SC State and was named MEAC Coach of the Year in 2001.
Campbell earned both a bachelor's degree in physical education and a master's in rehabilitation counseling at SC State.
Campbell, valedictorian at Blenheim (Marlboro County, S.C.) High School in 1987, is a 2008 graduate of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) HERS Institute and a 2006 graduate of the NCAA's Inaugural Leaderships Institute for Ethnic Minority Females.

MEAC Announces 2022 Commissioner’s All-Academic Team

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announces the 2022 Commissioner's All-Academic Team, presented by GEICO, 1,008 student-athletes from the conference's eight member institutions from this past school year who achieved academic success.

The team honors student-athletes, including sophomores to seniors, with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better.

"I want to congratulate the 1,008 student-athletes who have been named to be first Commissioner's All-Academic Team," MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills said. "To have over a thousand student-athletes among our eight member institutions maintaining a 3.0 GPA is as impressive and noteworthy as every athletic accomplishment, and I want to thank GEICO for partnering with the MEAC in recognizing this achievement."

Of the 1,008 student-athletes selected, 90 are from South Carolina State University.

About the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 51st year of intercollegiate competition with the 2021-22 academic school year. Located in Norfolk, Va., the MEAC is made up of eight outstanding historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State University.