Nate Allen
FAYETTEVILLE - Two years ago Chelsea Dungee was named to the All-SEC second-team women’s basketball team when she and Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors believed she was first-team worthy.
Dungee proved her worth scoring a SEC Tournament record 104 points in four games leading the underdog Razorbacks all the way to the tournament championship game final.
Tuesday Dungee was named All-SEC first-team and teammate Destiny Slocum second-team All-SEC but again Dungee may have cause to feel slighted.
Though the SEC’s scoring leader averaging 22.2 per game, senior guard Dungee drew less coaches’ votes than Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard as SEC Player of the Year.
Asked Tuesday if she’s now extra motivated before Arkansas’ first-round SEC Tournament game against Ole Miss in Greenville, S.C. Dungee replied, “Absolutely. I think they predetermine that without the season even starting which doesn’t make sense to me. But it is what it is. We have a tournament to win and I’m excited for this team and what we can do in Greenville.”
Neighbors said Howard also posted a great season and that there were more Player of the Year nominees than ever this season. But if that chip on the shoulder motivates Dungee all the more he’s all for it.
“She’s always gone down there with some kind of a chip,” Neighbors said. “That one year she went down there and didn’t make first team. If that puts her hair on fire that’s fine. I don’t think it’s a slight, but if it puts a chip on her shoulder that’s OK.”
Neighbors said Dungee, who first arrived as a redshirting sophomore transferred from the University of Oklahoma, has matured from firebrand scorer to all-round asset on the court and off.
“She has become a great teammate and ambassador in the community,” Neighbors said. “She’s gone from someone we’ve counted on to do a lot of our scoring to playing defense and rebounding to marketing, and doing it with a lot of class. She’s become a Razorback.”
A Razorback already tuned into doing what it takes beyond being a Razorback.
“She realizes there are things you have to do to play in the WNBA that don’t have anything to do with putting the ball in the basket,” Neighbors said.
Neighbors is elated to see Slocum honored with him coaching her as a Razorback after he was the University of Washington coach first recruiting her when Slocum signed with Maryland and in recruiting pursuit again when Slocum transferred to Oregon State and finally united as a grad transfer to Arkansas.
“If a recruit tells you ‘no’, don’t be a jerk about it,” Neighbors said. “Because she told me ‘no’ three times.”
Averaging 15.6 points, Slocum is Arkansas’ second-leading scorer and the bridge to the scoring triumvirate also including returnee Amber Ramirez, the TCU transfer averaging 13.8 points including a team-leading 73 of 159 3-pointers.
“We were a great team before Destiny but she adds to it,” Dungee said. “You have to guard her because she’s a scorer.”