A pair of former area high school girls’ basketball standouts are both headed to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Women’s National Basketball Championship in Lubbock, Texas.

Wabash Valley (Ill.) freshman guard Tia Barnett (Warren Central Class of 2016) and Walters State (Tenn.) freshman forward Oneisha Turner (Bowling Green Class of 2016) could potentially meet during the tournament, which is scheduled to begin on March 20. The seedings and bracket were scheduled to be released on Monday afternoon.

Barnett helped Wabash Valley (30-1) earn an automatic bid with a 68-60 win over John A. Logan in the District P Tournament championship game on Friday at Rend Lake (Ill.) College.

This season, Barnett has averaged 10.8 points per game as a part-time starter. She’s also posted averages of 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Wabash Valley is averaging 91.8 points a game as a team.

Turner played a solid role in Walters State winning the District G Tournament championship on Friday with a 58-49 win over Motlow (Tenn.) State in Morristown, Tenn. Turner came off the bench to contribute seven points, eight rebounds and an assist for Walters State (25-6).

This season, Turner is averaging 5.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.9 assists per game.

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East Central (Mo.) senior guard Donovan Halsel (Warren Central Class of 2012) saw his college career come to an end Sunday with a 74-70 loss to Southwest Minnesota State in the NCAA Division II Central Region semifinals at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo.

Halsel hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left to play to get the Tigers within two points, but East Central (25-8) got no closer.

Halsel finished with 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting (3-of-6 on 3-pointers) and led the team with three steals.

Halsel was part of a senior class that helped turn around the Tigers’ program under coach Jay Havens. East Central has posted three straight 20-win seasons, won back-to-back Great American Conference regular-season titles and won the school’s first GAC Tournament championship and earned its first-ever trip to the NCAA Central Regional.

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In a matchup of top 25 men’s tennis programs, No. 18 Kentucky dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 12 Texas A&M on Sunday at George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. 

Kentucky senior Beck Pennington (Greenwood Class of 2012) had a strong day for the Wildcats, winning his No. 3 singles match with a 6-3, 6-4 decision over Aleksandre Bakshi that put his team up 2-0.

Before that, Pennington teamed with Enzo Wallart for a win at No. 1 doubles. Pennington and Wallart, ranked No. 70 in the country in doubles, beat No. 22 Arthur Rinderknech and Max Lunkin 6-4.

Kentucky (11-6, 2-2 SEC) is back in action Thursday at home against Auburn.