Mississippi Gulf News

Fields named Freshman of the Year; Catchings, Harris named All-MACCC

Simaru Fields brought her slashing, driving, dishing, bombarding game to the MACCC and made an immediate impression.

The conference's coaches named the Mississippi Gulf Coast star Freshman of the Year on Thursday and also put her on the All-MACCC First Team. The freshman from Gulfport averaged 15.3 points to finish fifth in the league in scoring.

She was joined on the First Team by forward TK Catchings (So., New Hebron/Simpson Academy), and guard Elsie Harris (So., Mobile, Ala./B.C. Rain) was named to the Second Team.

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

SIMARU FIELDS

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

"We knew she could make a huge impact for our team. It would be based on her mindset and the work she put in," Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams said. "Coming out of high school, she had to do some work polishing her game and she understood that. She came in June and started working with Coach (Carla) Bartee, really working on making sure she was going to be able to hit the floor as a freshman. She came in determined.

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.

Fields averaged 5.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists and earned MACCC Player of the Week once.

"She plays on both sides of the ball," Adams said. "She always has a nose for the ball. She always finds a way to be around the ball and get her hands on the ball. She makes everybody else around her better. She's an asset on defense as well as on offense, and she understands how to get buckets and know how to set her teammates up."

TK CATCHINGS

Catchings came back for a third season, and she would up leading the MACCC in shooting percentage. Her prodigious rebounding efforts help propel her to numerous put-backs.

"She was our force in the paint," Adams said. "She's an instinctive offensive rebounder. That's her gift. She knows how to hunt the ball to grab an offensive board. She was very efficient around the basket."

Catchings finished fourth in rebounding at 8.6 per game, despite playing less than 22 minutes on average. She had 11 games of 10 or more rebounds, including a season-high 17 against Northwest Mississippi.

She averaged 10.5 points and finished with eight double-doubles. Catchings was named MACCC Player of the Week twice.

ELSIE HARRIS

Harris lost her first season at Gulf Coast because of a knee injury sustained just before the season started. She came back for a third year at Perk and shined, averaging 11.7 points.

"She was the leading scorer in the whole state of Alabama, all classifications," Adams said. "We knew she could find the hoop. That first year she got hurt, it really hurt my heart because I knew she was going to be special. She came off of that injury like a champ. She did her therapy with (Athletic Trainer Dana Sharp) and worked hard to get back in shape. Man, she gave us great minutes."

And she gave Gulf Coast a lot of minutes this year. She finished fourth by averaging 34.5 minutes.

Harris also averaged 2.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds, shooting 30.4 percent from the 3-point line.

Original source can be found here.