The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team has an outstanding season this past season and it got even better after sophomore guard TK [Tishara] Morehouse garnered NJCAA First Team All-American honors after the NJCAA released the teams Tuesday morning.
Morehouse, a 5-3 guard from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was one of the top scorers in the nation averaging 21 points a contest.
Morehouse becomes the second straight WNCC Cougar to earn First Team honors. Merle Wiehl earned NJCAA First Team honors a year ago. It is the fourth straight season a Cougar was on the All-American team. Wiehl was a second team selection in 2017-18 and Sladjana Rakovic was a third team selection in 2016-17.
Morehouse said it is a privilege to be among other Cougar All-Americans.
"It just shows our coach knows how to pick them," Morehouse said. "It shows we come together as a team. It is all about our team. Our team trusts me, so I appreciate them with all my heart for allowing me to take the shots that I have taken and letting me lead the team. We had good sportsmanship and togetherness."
WNCC head coach Chad Gibney said there is not enough adjectives to say about Morehouse's season and career at WNCC.
"it is a tremendous accomplishment. We are very proud of TK and the season she had and the career she had," Gibney said. "I am not sure if there are enough superlatives to describe how important she was for our program. Her leadership. Her toughness. Her work ethic and how she represented us in every facet was first class."
Morehouse said it is an honor to receive All-American honors.
"I am honored and it feels great," the sophomore point guard said. "I really don't think about it as much because I know at the next level I want to get farther. I am just honored."
Gibney said Morehouse is exactly what kind of players he looks for when he recruits.
"She is exactly what we want our program to be about in how she handles herself," Gibney said. "As great of a player as she was, she is just as good as a person and was so enjoyable to coach every day."
Morehouse, who will announce where she will be playing next year in the coming days, said she was thrilled to play on a Cougar team that had an excellent season before it was cut short before WNCC had an opportunity to play in the national tournament. WNCC finished the season at 28-2 and ranked second in the nation. The Cougars earned a No. 7 seed into the national tournament that was canceled because of the corona virus pandemic.
"It was a great season. The season went great even though it had to end the way it did, it was sad and depressing, but we can still say we did a good job at the end of the day," Morehouse said. "We fought hard in every game we played. It wasn't easy."
Morehouse was not only a scorer for the Cougars, but a multi-faceted performer. Morehouse averaged 21 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 2.2 steals a contest. She connected on 79 3-pointers and shot 75.7 percent from beyond the charity stripe.
"It is really important for me [to be an all-around player]," she said. "I like to show that I have more to me than just scoring. Being a smaller guard, I have to prove myself to a lot of people of what I can do on the court. It means a lot to me to be an all-around player and not just a scorer."
Gibney said it will be tough to replace Morehouse with what she accomplished on and off the court.
"We are not certainly going to replace her with just one player," he said. "I think we will miss everything about her from her on-floor production as well as her off-the-court intangibles. I don't know if we will be able to; we will need a handful of people to continue to step up. She has been a really good one."
Morehouse finished her two-year career averaging 17.7 points a contest. Morehouse became the second-leading scorer in school history behind her last year teammate Wiehl, finishing with 1,118 points.
This past season, Morehouse scored in double figures in 29 of 30 games, including the last 29 games. Her season highest game was a 38-point performance against Utah State Eastern on December 6. She also had a 34-point performance in a win over Casper College in November.
For her career, she finished with 19 20-point games and had four games of 30 or more points.
Morehouse was one of three Region IX players to make All-American. Gillette freshman Kobe King-Hawea also earned First Team honors, while Otero freshman Leah Mafua earned honorable mention honors.
The complete First Team besides Morehouse and King-Hawea include Odessa's Okako Adika, Jefferson's Tyra Brown, Central Arizona's Ayanna Clark, Tyler's Felmas Koranga, Wallace State's Imari Martin, Wabash Valley's Keya Patton, Gulf Coast State's Ahlana Smith, and Bismarck State's Amber Stevahn.
Second Team All-Americans included Miami Dade's Daliyah Brown, Trinity Valley's Curtessia Dean, Florida SouthWestern's Za'Nautica Downs, Shelton State's LaTascya Duff, Cleveland State's Asjah Harrell, Independence's Brittany Reeves, Salt Lake's Awa Sidibe, South Georgia Tech's Shaman Tyson, and Mississippi Gulf Coast's Daphane White.
Third Team All-American's were Iowa Western's Sommer Blakemore, Vincennes' Fess Hawkins, Dyersburg State's Kira Lowery, Hutchinson's Abby Ogle, Northwest Florida State's Chanaya Pinto, Central Arizona's Makayla Pippin, Collin County's Destiny Thurman, Midland's Ella Tofaeono, and Moberly Area's DeAnna Wilson.
Honorable mention All-American's include Georgia Highlands' Jahnaria, Rend Lake's Madison Buford, Chattanooga State's Melisa Carter, Santa Fe's Aleisha Curry, Southern Idaho's Petra Farkas, Harford's Kelvajha Foster, Trinity Valley's Taiyanna Jackson, Jones' Keyara Jones, Malcolm X's Jada McCurdy, Mineral Area's Masyn McWilliams, Northeast's Kyla Moore, Butler's Tamara Nard, Utah State-Eastern's Margarett Otuafi, Northwest Florida State's Rayven Peeples, Miles' Birita Salawu, Monroe's Cheyenne Talbot, Angelina's Lovietta Walker, South Georgia Tech's Yasriyyah Wazeerud-Din, and Eastern Oklahoma State's Deja Williams.