James’ play makes her a fan-favorite at TCC

Japonica James dominates the post down low.
Photo by Greg Rowland/TCC Athletics

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer

It will be difficult to second-guess sophomore forward Japonica James when she explains why her name quickly resonates with fans of the Tallahassee Community College women’s basketball team.

 
“I come to play and that’s what I do,” James said, explaining why she’s been named player of the week twice in consecutive weeks a little more than a month into the season.

 
The kind of season she is having shouldn’t be a surprise after a remarkable freshman year. Consider some of her accomplishments.

 
She set the single-game scoring record as a freshman with 39 points against Pensacola State in her first Panhandle Conference game. James ended the season with 544 points, which ranked her fifth on the Eagles’ single-season scoring list.

 
James also set the single-season record for field goal percentage as a freshman (.562), hitting 208-370 attempts. Her points total puts her on a pace that could very well give her the women’s career scoring record at TCC.

 
“She is an impact kid and she changes the game because she plays so hard,” said fifth-year coach Franqua Bedell. “She is passionate and she engages her teammates and she is a game-changer in a lot of ways. She has done a good job of helping us turn this program around.”

 
Bedell wasn’t exactly recruiting James when he first saw her playing in an AAU tournament that he attended to watch another player. He got a second look that convinced him James would be a good fit for his program.

 
A single play convinced Bedell. As he remembers, he saw her make a pass down court after getting a rebound. The intended player didn’t make the shot, but James was right around the basket to make the put-back.

 
It’s that kind of athleticism that Bedell said gives her an “instinctive IQ” that makes James a weapon for the Eagles.

 
James grew up in Mobile, Ala., where she had a reputation for being able to hold her own on neighborhood courts. As a player for John L. LeFlore Magnet High School, she helped her team go undefeated in her senior year.

 
James got plenty of encouragement from her family, as most of them played the game. For awhile she thought she would be a softball player like her mother, but when her father died she decided to stay with the game and play for him.

 
She attributes a lot of what she does today to the times that she and her father spent shooting around. Shoot around these days is all about mastering the skills that her father taught her on her own.

 
“The gym is a stress-free zone,” she said. “When I walk into the gym there is nothing on my mind but what I have to do.”
That’s why Bedell is optimistic that James will get better when she moves on to play for Troy University. She signed last week to play next season for the Trojans.

 
Making the adjustment when the times come shouldn’t be difficult for James, said freshman guard Juliunn Redmond.

 
“She can out-rebound any big (player) in the country now,” said Redmond, a Chicago native whose friendship with James goes back to their days on the AAU circuit. “She is strong and she is just built to be a post player but she is in a small body. She can jump really high and she is quick.”