[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
The third and fourth members of the 2019 Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team announced where they will be playing next year at a signing ceremony on Monday at the Sports Arena.
Sophomore Jada Mickens announced that she is signing with the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Sophomore Tijuana Kimbro signed a national letter of intent at East Tennessee State.
Mickens and Kimbro join Dejanae Roebuck and Tia Bradshaw as 2019 signees. Roebuck and Kimbro both signed with Texas-El Paso last week.
They are the 31st and 32nd players to sign with Division I programs since John Ontjes took over the program before the 2007-08 season. They are the 53rd and 54th players to move on to a four-year program under Ontjes.
JADA MICKENS
Named a 2019 NJCAA honorable mention All-American, the 6-foot forward from Liberal became only the third Blue Dragon in team history to earn All-America honors in both seasons at Hutchinson. Mickens was an honorable mention selection as a freshman in 2018.
Mickens was Hutchinson’s third-leading scorer at 11.0 points per game. She also averaged 6.2 rebounds and 0.86 blocked shots per game. Her 31 blocks were 10th in the KJCCC.
Mickens ranked third in the Jayhawk in field-goal percentage at 53.4 percent and tied Roebuck for seventh in the league in free-throw percentage at 79.2 percent.
The Blue Dragon forward had one double-double and posted a season high of 21 points at Garden City on Feb. 9. She had a season-high 13 rebounds in the NJCAA Tournament opener against Western Nebraska on March 18. Mickens posted career highs of 34 points and 20 rebounds – those performances were in different games – in her freshman season.
Mickens closed her Blue Dragon career ranked eighth on the all-time rebound list (517), sixth in career blocked shots (71), 11th in all-time free throws (171) and 16th on the career scoring list (854 points).
She is the third Blue Dragon to sign with UMKC, joining Emily Blakesley (2013) and Kara Lee (2014).
TIJUANA KIMBRO
After missing 2018 with an injury, Kimbro finally saw the court for the Dragons in 2019.
The 6-4 sophomore from Memphis, Tennessee, came off the bench to average 5.7 points and 5.8 rebounds.
The of the biggest moments for Kimbro in the 2019 season came in the second round of the NJCAA Tournament in March. Seeing significant minutes against No. 4-seed Angelina because Mickens and Roebuck were in serious foul trouble, Kimbro scored 12 points in 16 minutes with eight points coming in the second half. Kimbro converted a three-point play with 1:31 left in the game to give Hutch a seven-point lead in a 72-59 victory over Angelina.
Kimbro had 51 blocked shots this past season, which is second most on the Blue Dragon single-season chart.
Kimbro is the first Blue Dragon to sign at East Tennessee State.
