Aniya Gourdine never played in a women’s NCAA tournament game until Southern University’s landmark victory over UC San Diego in its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory. A victory that led the No. 16 seed HBCU into battle with No.1 overall seed UCLA in the Spokane 1 region first-round action of the women’s NCAA tournament. Before the Jaguars’ leading scorer stepped on the hardwood inside Pauley Pavilion for the 16 vs 1 matchup, Gourdine received an encouraging message from her former teammate and WNBA’s Chicago Sky star Angel Reese. Gourdine and Reese grew up in Baltimore and played basketball at St. Frances Academy, a private Catholic high school in the city.
“It’s your very first tournament and I’m super excited for you,” Reese said in a March Madness video on social media. “…We literally grew up together, literally were best friends growing up from third grade to high school. We was learning how to play basketball together, to winning championships together, to playing at high school together, to you going to college and I’m super proud of your growth on and off the court.”
While the Bruins defeated the Jaguars 84-46 in the opening round game, Gourdine finished with 10 points, two assists and one rebound. Prior to Southern’s first-round appearance in the tournament, the 5-foot-9 senior guard helped the Jaguars defeat the University of California San Diego 68-56 in the First Four round.
She also helped Southern defeat Alcorn State 64-44 to capture the program’s second Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament crown in three seasons and earned MVP honors in the event.
Gourdine’s path to HBCU
Gourdine played her first two seasons at Temple University before transferring to SU ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. Like Gourdine, Angel Reese played her final two seasons of college basketball at LSU — roughly 16 miles away from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based HBCU — and helped the Tigers win the 2023 women’s NCAA tournament national championship.
Southern finished the season 21-15 overall and 15-3 in conference play.