Amaya Yancey wins NJCAAE NBA2K Tournament

Former CSM women's basketball student-athlete Amaya Yancey has another award to add to her trophy case for her time at the College of Southern Maryland. The standout point guard won the NJCAAE NBA2K Tournament back in April of this year, receiving $1,500 in scholarship prize money for her victory.

The tournament included 256 junior college students from across the country. It was set up as four 64 team brackets, with the top 16 players from each bracket being seeded into the Final 64 championship bracket.

Even though this was her first time competing in an NBA2K tournament, Yancey didn't face a lot of adversity going up against her competitors. "The games were close sometimes but most of the time I was blowing people out," Yancey said. "I've never played in a 2K tournament but it was a great opportunity to make extra money."

Once Yancey reached the championship match, she had to win a best-of-three series to be crowned the champion. She said the best-of-three format gave her time to get a feel for her opponent, and that the team she decided to play with - the Los Angeles Lakers - gave her a good chance to win.

"My emotions were excitement," Yancey said of what was going through her mind after winning the final game. "I really didn't think I was going to win or even get that far to play in the championship."

In addition to winning the NJCAAE NBA2K Tournament, Yancey was recently named the College of Southern Maryland Female Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row during CSM's 2019-20 Virtual Athletic Banquet. She was also named to the 2019-20 All-Region XX Division II Second Team and the Maryland JUCO Honorable Mention team.

In 2018-19, she was an NJCAA Division II Third Team All-American, an All-Region XX Division II Second Team member, and an All-Maryland JUCO Second Team member. She was also named NJCAA Division II Player of the Week for the week of December 3-9, 2018.

If what she has accomplished at CSM alone is any indication, the future remains bright for Yancey, who will be continuing her academic and athletic career at the University of Rio Grande in Ohio.