EMCC women’s hoops standout Ja’Mia Hollings signs with Troy University

SCOOBA — Two-time all-region, all-conference East Mississippi Community College women's basketball standout Ja'Mia Hollings has signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her collegiate career at Troy University in Alabama.  The announcement was made during Hollings' signing event held Tuesday at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on EMCC's Scooba campus.

Hollings will join the Trojans for the 2021-22 basketball season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

A 6-foot-1 forward from West Point, Hollings averaged a double-double (14.3 ppg & 10.2 rpg) while twice being named All-Region 23 and All-MACCC First Team for Coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions.  Along with shooting 60 percent from the field and 72 percent from the charity stripe for her EMCC career, Hollings totaled 630 points, 447 rebounds, 90 steals, 61 assists and 49 blocked shots while starting all 44 games.  She led the team in scoring, rebounding, steals, blocks and field goal percentage during each of her two seasons.

In addition, Hollings earned MACCC Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors four times during her career to help lead the Lady Lions to a two-year composite record of 36-8, including the team's conference tournament championship during her freshman season.

"I want to thank Coach (Sharon) Thompson for helping me improve my game and skill set," Hollings said.  "I was always treated like family here in Scooba and my two years at EMCC were a great experience."

This past season for East Mississippi, Hollings averaged a double-double for the second straight year to repeat as a first-team All-MACCC and All-Region 23 performer.  Along with averaging a team-leading 14.8 points (5^th in MACCC) and conference-best 10.1 rebounds an outing, she connected on a league-high 58.6 percent from the field (9^th in NJCAA) and 73 percent from the charity stripe for the 12-5 Lady Lions.  Hollings was also named to the 2021 NJCAA All-Region 23 Tournament team.

"Today is a big day for 'Sticks' (Ja'Mia), her family and our women's basketball program with her signing with Troy University," EMCC head women's basketball coach Sharon Thompson noted.  "She has been a pleasure to coach these past two years and was an instrumental part of our 2020 conference championship team."

As a freshman for EMCC's 24-3 conference championship club, Hollings averaged 14.0 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest, while connecting on a conference-best 60.9 percent of her field goals (9^th in NJCAA) and 70.7 percent of her free throws.  She also recorded 15 double-doubles during the 2019-20 season. 

With 22 career double-doubles to her credit, Hollings' career scoring-high efforts were 27 points at Holmes this past season and a prior 27-point home outing against Coahoma as a freshman.  Her career best rebounding contest was 19 boards at Northeast Mississippi this past year.

During her career at West Point High School, Hollings received the 2018-19 Levy Washington Award for athletic excellence and was named team MVP as a senior.  She capped her prep career by earning game MVP honors with 15 points and 12 rebounds at the 2019 Northeast Mississippi Basketball Coaches Association (NEMBCA) All-Star Game (3A/4A/5A/6A).  As a sophomore, Hollings was a member of the Lady Green Wave's 2016-17 team that made the school's first appearance in the MHSAA Class 5A girls' state championship game.          

Guided by 10^th-year head coach Chanda Rigby, the Trojans of Troy University are the reigning Sun Belt Conference Tournament champions and 2019-20 SBC regular-season champions.  Troy was 22-6 overall and 15-2 in conference play last season while making the school's third NCAA Tournament appearance and claiming a third Sun Belt Tournament title under Rigby's direction.

"Ja'Mia is such a great addition to our 2021-22 roster," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said.  "As an agile, running, scoring and rebounding post player, her skill set is a natural complement to our style of play.  I believe she will help us immediately."

EMCC's Thompson agrees with Rigby's assessment of Hollings' talents.

"Sticks should adapt very well in their system, which is very similar to her style of play," Thompson continued.  "We wish her the very best of luck as she continues her collegiate career at Troy University."