A new version of the HBCU All-Star Game is taking place on April 6, bringing some much-deserved national exposure to some of the best HBCU women’s basketball players. Twenty-four of the HBCU’s standout student-athletes will take the court for the first-of-its-kind women’s college basketball contest.
The talented hopefuls participating will come from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), Tennessee State, and North Carolina A&T, one of the HBCU’s best teams.
The women’s HBCU All-Star Game has also invited WNBA and other professional scouts to attend a combine the players will be competing in a couple days before the main event. In an additional effort to help the collegiate athletes take their careers to the next level, testing numbers from the combine will be sent to WNBA teams as well.
Former Tennessee State and Fort Valley State men’s basketball coach Travis Williams created the women’s counterpart to the men’s HBCU All-Star Game, which has followed the men’s Final Four contest for the past four years.
Williams considered pairing the premiere event with the women’s Final Four also, but he decided against this to ensure the women’s All-Star Game was treated as a priority.
“There’ll come a time where it’ll be a possibility where we can do both,” Williams said. “But I think the main focus for us now is just focusing on what we have here now and making sure it’s the best event.”
Instead, both the women’s and men’s games will take place back-to-back a few days after the women’s Final Four matchups.
The HBCU All-Star Game players will be separated into two sides, Team Laney and Team Hoskins. The MEAC, SIAC, and North Carolina A&T will take the floor for Team Laney, while the CIAA and SWAC, and Tennessee State will represent Team Hoskins.
Team Laney is named after former Cheyney State guard Yolanda Laney, who played on the first HBCU women’s basketball team to reach the DI national title game.
Meanwhile, Hoskins gets its name from former Mississippi Valley State center Patricia Hoskins, who held the DI women’s basketball scoring record for over a decade with 3,122 career points.
The women’s HBCU All-Star Game will tip off right after the men’s at 3:30 p.m. ET in San Antonio, Texas.
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