#23 Lady Wildcats earn top seed, get first round bye Russell Boone 03/03/09 The all-important Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament is being held this week (March 4-8) in Birmingham, Ala. Fair Park Arena will host all of the action, and one of the many teams participating in the 31st edition of the women’s tourney will be the Fort Valley State University Lady Wildcats. The championship game is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPNU this coming Sunday. Despite having one of the youngest teams in the league, the Lady Wildcats still managed to earn a national ranking (#23), a top ranking in the NCAA South Region (#2) and earned the top seed in the upcoming tournament. Fort Valley State finished the regular season with a 23-4 record and was perfect in the SIAC at 22-0. Leading the Lady Wildcats into action are guards Takesha Riggs (5’8 Jr.) and Shekiya Tarpkins (6’0, Jr.), who both will be candidates for All-Conference honors. Riggs leads the team in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game and is also the top playmaker, averaging 3.7 assists per game. Tarpkins averages 16.4 points per game and is one of the leaders in the NCAA in steals at 5.0 per game. Fort Valley’s youth movement is led by forward Kendra Evans (5’10, Fr.). Evans is the third leading scorer on the team (12.4 ppg) and leads the team in rebounds (7.1 pg) and field goal percentage (.581). Yasheeka Jones (5’6, Fr.) has started in 15 games this season and has 56 assists and 40 steals to her credit. The Lady Wildcats will play the winner of the match-up featuring #8 Stillman (9-15, 9-13 SIAC) and LeMoyne-Owen (11-16, 8-14) on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. (central time). Fort Valley swept both teams in the regular season.