GRAY & PARKER NAMED WILHELM AWARD WINNERS
Parker earned NJCAA all-American honors and Gray was named to NJCAA all-tournament team
(Photo courtesy: Jake Gordon, Blinn Information)
Two high school teammates teamed up at Blinn College to help the women’s basketball team reach the national tournament for the third time in the past four seasons. Those teammates, Ebony Parker and Ekiya Gray, both earned the Don Wilhelm Award as the team’s most valuable players for the 2015-16 season.
“Night in and night out, these two players performed well for us,” said Blinn head coach Jeff Jenkins.
Parker, a 5-foot-8 shooting guard, and Gray, a 6-foot-1 forward, are both from Houston and attended Klein Forest High School. Blinn guard Jeliah Preston was also a teammate at Klein Forest.
A proficient outside shooter, Parker averaged 17.5 points per game and broke the NJCAA Division I record with 144 3-pointers. Parker was named an NJCAA all-America honorable mention, and earned all-region and all-conference honors. Parker has signed to continue playing basketball at University of Tulsa.
Gray was second on the team in points (13.9) and rebounds (7.5) per game and led the team in assists with 135. She was named to the NJCAA Division I all-tournament team and named all-region and all-conference. Gray has signed to continue playing at Auburn University.
The Wilhelm Award is named after former Blinn College athletic director Don Wilhelm, an NJCAA Hall of Famer who served the College for 10 years.
The Buccaneers finished the 2015-16 season with a trip to the national tournament and a Region XIV tournament championship. Blinn finished 1-1 at nationals and ended the year with a 26-9 overall record
For more information, visit www.buccaneersports.com.