Bio

Sheila Dees

Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College (1972-74) / Basketball
Woolmarket, Mississippi

Sheila Dees of Woolmarket was part of a new women’s sports league termed the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women offered to back a state championship for women’s basketball in 1973. Coach Barbara Ann “Sue” Ross entered Perk and her team in the new league.

At the close of the season the team had a respectable 11-4 record that was sufficient to gain an invitation to the first ever Women’s Junior College National Championship in basketball. The tournament was held at Bay City, Michigan. Gulf Coast took out Bergen, New Jersey, 88-52 with 15 points from Dees. In the next game, Dees scored 13 in a 48-40 defeat of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Then the women from Gulf Coast demolished Delta College, the host of the tournament, 75-35.  

At last, Gulf Coast stood face to face with Anderson, South Carolina, for the national championship. The see-saw battle went on for a while, but the Gulf Coast women won by a point.

In the 1974 season, the Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges recognized women’s junior college basketball after a 19-year hiatus. 1974 was to be the first of two years that women could play in two leagues—MAJC and AIAW.

The 1974 Mississippi AIAW state tournament took place at Meridian. In semifinal action, Dees won the game against Meridian by scoring with 9 seconds left to win 49-48. In the final, Dees piled up 27 points to beat Hinds 59-56 to win AIAW State laurels. One week later, even though Dees netted 16 points, Hinds beat Gulf Coast 73-61 for the MAJC State title.  

On March 9, 1974, at the Gulf Coast Harrison County Campus, Dees scored 16 points in the 73-71 win over Hinds for the AIAW District III crown. That earned Gulf Coast another trip to Bay City to defend their national crown. At Bay City, Gulf Coast defeated team after team with Dees pumping double-digits into every winning score. 

At last, on Saturday, March 23 the Gulf Coast women, as the year before, went face to face with Anderson, South Carolina, with the national championship in the balance After beating Anderson by one in 1973, the Bulldogs lost by a point in 1974.

In her two years at MGCCC, Dees averaged 13 points per game. She was chosen for the All-State team in 1973 and 1974. She made All-Tournament three times and South All-Star once. She was named one of the Outstanding Athletes of America.