Fields earns spot on All-Region 23 Team

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast guard Simaru Fields quickly put herself among the elite when she stepped onto the college basketball court for the first time.

That stellar play continued throughout the season, and the freshman guard from Gulfport has been named to the All-NJCAA Region 23 Team.

"She's a known scorer and does a great job scoring the ball, but outside of that, I've told everybody she's always got her nose on the ball," Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams said. "She's a high-energy player, and she plays both ends of the floor."

Fields averaged 15.3 points to finish fifth in the MACCC, which helped her be named the conference's Freshman of the Year. She averaged 5.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists and was a First-Team All-MACCC selection. 

She also finished third in the conference with 64 steals, averaging 2.8 per game. She was seventh with 48 made 3-pointers.

"She's an elite competitor and she wants to win," Adams said. "She'll do whatever it takes to win. To be able to do that as a freshman, she was in new territory and had to learn a lot. She was kind of thrown into the fire but she embraced the challenge. Every honor she received this year, she worked for and she deserved it."

Perhaps her best game of the season came Feb. 13 against Northwest Mississippi. She had 31 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in a 66-50 win at Perk. Those were season-bests in points and rebounds and part of her four double-doubles on the campaign. She had two seven-assist games and three games with six steals and was named MACCC Player of the Week once. 

The Bulldogs finished 17-6 overall and 11-3 in the conference. They made it to the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.

Adams thinks players like Fields are important for the program, not just for what the Bulldogs accomplished this season.

"It means a lot for our program because we really want to get the program to a point where we're getting the right type of athletes in here," she said. "Being All-Region and All-State says we're moving in the right direction because we're getting players in here who are getting honored by the coaches in our league. That shows they're taking care of business on the court and they have the respect of the league."

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