B-ball finishes for both teams

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Photo by Jesse Johnson

AACC Men’s and Women’s Basketball both ended their seasons with six wins, and showed improvements in academic excellence.

Andrew Cabacar, Reporter

AACC Men’s and Women’s Basketball both finished with six wins in the 2016-17 season.

The men’s team ended with a 6-15 record and the women’s finished at 6-16.

Men’s Basketball won two of their last four games, while the women ended on a six-game losing streak.

Women’s Basketball lost the deciding game against Catonsville. A win would have earned them the last spot in the Regional Tournament.

“It’s always disappointing not reaching the tournament, but it was very exciting to see how close they came,” Women’s Basketball coach Lionel Makell said.

The women’s team played seven of the top teams in the county. Makell said he hoped the high-visibility games could draw more recognition to the Riverhawks and attract recruits for next season.

Despite the losses, Makell said he was most proud of the team’s academics this season. He said he didn’t lose any players because of academic ineligibility.

Additionally, players Jasmine Wallace, Alexxis Evans and Megan Young will play at Division II and Division III schools next season.

Makell said the team’s motto was, “Finish what you started.”

“We were always trying to be positive and keep everyone’s heads up when we had a rough game,” Evans, a sophomore forward, said.

Despite the team’s losses, several men’s players also excelled in the classroom.

Freshman Miles Dobson and sophomores Marcus Dentley, Larry Stevenson and Christian Thomas were on the Fall 2016 Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.

“Even though our record wasn’t too great, I was pretty happy with myself and my team,” Dentley said.
Additionally, Dentley finished the season ranked No. 15 in points per game for the Maryland Junior College Athletic Association.

He won Student Athlete of the Month in November for the JUCO conference.

Sophomore point-guard Stevenson finished the year as No. 6 in assists and steals in the JUCO conference.
The men’s team had nine of its games decided by nine points or less.

In addition, both men’s and women’s teams finished with five wins in 2015. In 2014, the women’s had five wins and the men’s had nine.

Men’s Basketball went 2-12 in its conference this year, and Women’s Basketball went 2-10.