Parsons Hoping for Historic Run to End Lone Season as Sugar Bear

Courtesy University of Central Arkansas Athletics Department

SUGAR BEARS SENIOR DAY 2013

SATURDAY, MARCH 9

VS. ORAL ROBERTS – 2PM

Senior Recognition to be held before lineup introductions

2013 Seniors: Megan Herbert, Britney Gowans, Chantel Moss, Desiree’ Rogers & Tracey Parsons

In the fall of 2009, a group of six freshmen arrived on the University of Central Arkansas with the goal of returning the women’s basketball program to its long tradition of winning.

Despite making up two thirds of a nine-player roster that was the nation’s most inexperienced in Division I that season, that collection of young talent – Megan Herbert, Britney Gowans, Chantel Moss, Micah Rice, Desiree’ Rogers and Westin Taylor – played a key role in the program’s immediate reversal as they orchestrated the nation’s biggest turnaround, taking a team that had gone 6-23 the previous season and finishing 21-8.

In the two seasons that followed, they won 45 more games and the program’s first Southland Conference championship, and took the Sugar Bears to their first two Division I postseason appearances.

It was a tremendous run for that group.

A group that Tracey Parsons was not part of. 

During that time, Parsons was busy carving out a nice career for herself at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, a Division II program competing in the Heartland Conference. The guard from Trenton, NJ spent four years at UAFS – playing three and redshirting one – and left ranked among the school’s leaders in several categories, including:

6th in scoring

4th in assists

9th in rebounds

4th in field goals made

3rd in 3-point field goals made

6th in free throws made

Following a 19-win season at UAFS, Parsons graduated with a year of eligibility remaining. With the graduation of guards Nakeia Guiden, Destinee Rogers and Marci Moffitt, along with the offseason departure of Taylor to Arkansas Tech to pursue an agri business degree, new Sugar Bear head coach Sandra Rushing had an opening.

For the 2012-13 season Parsons joined the group of Sugar Bear seniors who have accomplished so much before her time in Conway, and though she was not a part of those previous successes she is an integral piece of this year’s team that is chasing something her fellow seniors have yet to achieve – a Southland Conference tournament championship and NCAA tournament berth.

“We want to go to the Southland tournament and win it,” said Parsons, who has made 18 starts this season and leads the team in assists and is third in steals and 3-pointers made, and has tallied the fourth-most points. “That’s something that’s never been done here. It would be great to end my career be going and making history and moving on to to the NCAA tournament. That’s something that would be very exciting for me – after I went to Fort Smith I didn’t think I’d ever even play Division I much less have a chance to play in the tournament. If we can take care of business in Katy and get to go to the NCAA, that would be a great way to go out.”

Parsons made her way to Arkansas from New Jersey through coaching connections, and thrived during her stay in Fort Smith. In her one year in Conway, she has had her moments – such as averaging nearly 5.5 assists through her first seven Southland Conference games, scoring in double figures seven times including a season-high 14 points at Louisiana Tech, and her best outing of the conference season with a 12-point, 4-rebound, 2-assist game in last Saturday’s win at McNeese State – but has had to adjust along the way in making the move up from Division II to Division I.

“It was a big transition,” she said. “I feel like it’s a lot more strict basketball-wise as far as running sets and things like that. It’s very different. But I learned to adjust and get the hang of it.”

In addition to adjusting to the differences in the game, Parsons also had to adjust to the differences in her surroundings as she joined a senior class that had played three seasons together.

“That’s been another part of the adjustment – we’ve all had to learn each other,” she said. “It takes time to figure out how to play with each other on the floor and to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, just getting the chemistry with each other on the court.”

But sometimes, the chemistry comes away from the court. There was no better example of that than last weekend, when the Sugar Bears found themselves stuck in traffic on a bridge for nearly two hours due to a multiple-car accident. The wait was so long that the game time was pushed back an hour to allow the Sugar Bears, along with game officials two cars behind the UCA bus, to get to Burton Coliseum.

During their wait, the team organized and filmed their own rendition of the Harlem Shake, doing two separate shoots – one before Coach Rushing’s arrival from her car further back in the line, and one with the head coach.

The Sugar Bears went on to defeat McNeese State that day, winning 77-69 in overtime on the Cowgirls’ senior day in what turned out to be Parsons’ most memorable day as a Sugar Bear – at least to date.

“That was a big moment, filming the Harlem Shake video while we were stuck in traffic,” she said. “It was fun – we were having a good time with it, and people were getting out of their cars and taking pictures of us. We could have just been sitting there stuck on a bus doing nothing, but we were able to have fun and enjoy that time we had and we came out of it feeling good and loose.”

That translated into a win over a Cowgirl team that the Sugar Bears have developed a rivalry with over the previous few seasons. Though Parsons hadn’t experienced the matchup prior to this season, she saw it firsthand earlier in the year when McNeese won 77-61 in the Farris Center – the first time this group of Sugar Bears had lost at home to the Cowgirls.

“When we played them at home the first time, all I heard about was the sisters,” Parsons said, referring to the Cowgirls’ twin tandem of Ashlyn and Caitlyn Baggett, who have guided McNeese to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. “So I knew a little bit about it. But after playing that first time, I got to see first-hand that they can really shoot and how good they are, and after the way that game went I definitely wanted to get them back in that second game. It was a really fun game – they would go on a run, then we’d make one. Then we go into overtime – just a lot of exciting moments. I’m glad we were able to fight through it and get that win.”

Now, there are a few more wins to go get. The first comes in the Farris Center on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Oral Roberts on Senior Day. Then, on to the conference tournament.

“It’s kind of bittersweet, knowing this is my last season and not playing another college basketball season or having another game here at UCA,” she said. “We want to finish strong and win this last one on our home floor, then go try to win that tournament.”