Jasmine Mikell, one of Bryan County’s all-time top female basketball players, made it official last Thursday when she signed to take her talent to the next level and became the newest member of the Auburn-Montgomery team.
When Mikell put her name to the contract in front of her before a large gathering that included family, teammates, friends, coaches, and faculty in the school’s media center, it culminated a journey that began six years ago.
It was as a seventh-grader that Coach Mario Mincey planted in Mikell’s head that she could play college basketball.
“I saw her in seventh-grade summer camp, and she reminded me a lot of (Olonn) Rawls,” Mincey said. “I told her if she put the work in and listened, she could play college basketball.
“It was not easy because our coaching staff challenged her every day to be the best on the court and in the classroom. It paid off as she became an All-State player and now gets the chance to play at Auburn-Montgomery.”
Mikell was one of two Redskins to sign to play at the next level as Laney Sehr inked to take her talents to Georgia Southern East, the former East Georgia State College, which has been absorbed by Georgia Southern University.
The newly named Golden Eagles will now compete as a four-year school – it formerly had junior college status – at the NAIA level as a member of the 14-team Continental Athletic Conference.
Mikell finished her career as the school’s third leading scorer all-time behind Rawls and Julianne Brown. Mikell had 1,503 points with 549 assists and 527 steals. She started all 114 games of her career.
During Mikell and Sehr’s four years, Bryan County played in four straight region tournament championship games, winning one, reached the Elite Eight once, and the Sweet 16 twice while qualifying for the state playoffs each year.
Mikell was a four-time all-state selection by the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association, and this past season she was named second-team all-state by the AJC as she led the Redskins to a 21-6 record.
She was also all-region for four years and this year was the Region 3A-DII Player of the Year, marking the fourth straight year a Redskins player won that honor. Ashanti Brown was POY last year, and Kayley Wedlow the previous two.
Mincey, who completed his 19th season at Bryan County, considers Rawls and Olivia Melton to be his top two point guards, but he is now placing Mikell in that select group.
Rawls just finished an outstanding career at Columbus State University while Melvin, now an assistant coach at South Georgia Tech, played at Coastal Georgia, where she is the school’s all-time leading scorer while earning All-America honors twice.
Mikell admitted that as a seventh-grader, she didn’t quite fathom what Mincey was talking about, but the idea of playing college basketball eventually took root.
“It was in about the ninth or 10th grade that I started taking it seriously,” Mikell said. “Then I was like, I didn’t know if I could do it, but Coach Mincey told me I could. He convinced me and kept me focused.”
Mikell averaged 19 points per game this past season as she carried the load for the Redskins offense. In her first three years, she was not required to be a scorer as she played with Kenzie Stucker, Wedlow, and Ashanti Brown, all of whom surpassed the 1,000-point mark, many of their points coming on Mikell's assists.
Mikell was offered by AUM last October and committed the following month. While other schools offered, she remained loyal to the Warhawks, a Division II school that competes in the Gulf South Conference.