Canton’s Clay earns NJCAA Division II all-tourney honors as Morton College takes fifth place
JOPLIN, Mo. — Nariah Clay’s freshman season ended with an eye-opening performance.
The Canton, Mo., native scored 18 points and finished with four rebounds, four assists and four steals as the Morton College women’s basketball team beat Iowa Western 75-67 on Saturday in the fifth-place game of the NJCAA Division II national tournament.
It capped an incredible tourney for Clay, the 5-foot-10 guard who was named to the all-tournament.
Clay scored 18 points while going 12 of 12 from the free-throw line in the 87-72 victory over Harcum in the tourney opener. In the 88-78 loss to Kirkwood in the quarterfinals, Clay finished with a game-high 21 points, making 6 of 9 3-pointers to go with six rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Morton bounced back with an 86-57 victory over Lincoln Land as Clay scored 17 points and went 5 of 9 from 3-point range.
Clay averaged 18.5 points per game and shot 52 percent from 3-point range in the tournament. Her 15 made treys over the four-game span enabled her to finish the season second in NJCAA Division II with 115 made 3-pointers.
She finished the season averaging 13.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game, while shooting 36.2 percent from 3-point range and 75.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Clay was a first-team All-Skyway Conference selection as well as MVP of the Region IV tournament.
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