Reghan Grimes and her Tennessee Tech teammates were surprised to learn they would play defending national champion South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“We were a little shocked that we were a 16 seed because we thought we would get, I guess maybe a 15, maybe a 14, but I think it’s still such a great opportunity to get to play in that setting,” said Grimes, a former Ravenwood star. “We’re playing on ESPN, so that’s super cool."
After winning 17 straight games, Tech (26-5) was hoping for a higher seed. The Ohio Valley Conference champion will play top-seeded South Carolina (30-3) at 3 p.m. Friday in Columbia, S.C.
Grimes, a 5-foot-10 junior guard, will be making her second appearance in March Madness. In her first appearance, Tech beat Monmouth 76-69 during a play-in game for its first NCAA Tournament win since 1990.
“First off, it seems like it was so long ago, but it was really exciting getting to be on that stage as a freshman and starting in March Madness is kind of surreal,” Grimes said. “I was dealing with (a knee) injury then, so I was trying to get through it as much as possible and still find ways to enjoy it.”
Top-seeded Indiana routed Tech 77-47 in the first round, ending the Golden Eagles’ season in Bloomington, Ind.
Now, Tech faces an even tougher assignment against second-ranked South Carolina, a three-time national champion under coach Dawn Staley.
“They are just really good at what they do,” Grimes said. “They’ve got so many different weapons, and they’re really balanced all around the board. It’s not like everything comes from just one area, so that’s where the trouble lies in having to defend so many different positions.”
Tech upset South Carolina 77-73 at the 1989 NCAA Tournament.
The Golden Eagles haven’t lost since Jan. 9 when they fell 71-40 at Eastern Illinois.
“We focus on defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball,” Grimes said. “That’s our formula going into every game.”
Tech will be making its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance after winning its 11th OVC Tournament title and 19th OVC regular-season championship.
“I think we hold ourselves to a really high standard and I think that’s what helps us be so successful,” Grimes said.
Grimes buried a turnaround jumper with 19 seconds left in regulation, sending the OVC Championship into overtime in an 82-76 win over Lindenwood.
“The play we called was not what ended up happening at all,” Grimes said. “Lindenwood guarded the initial (play) very well, so it kind of broke down, and at that point it was like, somebody’s got to go get a bucket.”
Grimes led the Golden Eagles with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting.
Tech had already earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament by making it to the OVC final since Lindenwood was ineligible due to reclassification after moving from Division II to Division I.
“What she has done for us this season has just been incredible,” Tech coach Kim Rosamond said. “When the game is on the line, Reghan Grimes delivers.”
Grimes delivered the winning layup with one second left in the Golden Eagles’ second game of the season, a 48-46 win at Chattanooga.
“That was a really, really big win for us because they had just kicked our butts the year before,” Rosamond said. “It really energized us this season and gave us confidence that we needed.”
Grimes also hit the go-ahead basket and an insurance foul shot in the last 27 seconds of a 61-57 win at Arkansas-Little Rock in mid-February.
“But you want to talk about big play after big play,” Rosamond said. “She doesn’t shy away from the big moment. She’s built for ’em.”
Rosamond said Grimes “has championship DNA running through her veins.”
Grimes leads Tech in scoring at 12.9 points per game on a balanced team with six players averaging between 9.6 and 12.9 points per contest. She is also second on the team in rebounding at 5.3 rebounds per game.
Steady improvement on her 3-point shooting has made Grimes a bigger offensive threat. She shot 18.2% from beyond the arc as a freshman and 23.5% as a sophomore before improving to 35% this season.
“Reghan didn’t have to be a 3-point shooter in high school because she was so strong and physically dominating, but at this level, in order for teams to have to respect her 3 but also have to keep her from getting to the rim, she’s worked really hard to develop a consistent 3-point shot, and that’s been the biggest jump,” Rosamond said. “She’s making almost twice as many as she made as a sophomore and probably triple that she made her freshman year.”
Now opponents can’t sit back and wait for her to drive; they’ve got to respect her 3.
“And that didn’t just happen overnight,” Rosamond said. “This is a kid that is in the gym at 6:30 a.m. just about every morning. Either she comes in by herself or she’s with our assistant coach, Allison Clark. Reghan is a grinder.”
Grimes has also become a more vocal leader. She would like to go into sports psychology after graduation. Her grade point average is nearly 4.0.
Grimes grew up in an athletic family. Her dad, Reggie, played college football at Alabama from 1996-99 before spending the 2000 season with New England as a defensive end in the NFL.
Her mom, Mikaela Perry-Grimes, competed in track and field at Nebraska and Alabama from 1993-97. Grimes’ older brother, Reggie, played defensive end at Oklahoma for four seasons before transferring to Memphis 10 months ago. And her older sister, Maya Perry-Grimes, was a member of the track and field team at Austin Peay.
“I think we got such good genes from our parents that we could have gone any route that we wanted to with our talents and skills we were given,” Grimes said. “It is a very competitive household, even if it’s card games or video games.”
Grimes scored 1,764 career points and grabbed a school-record 898 rebounds at Ravenwood.
“The amount of hours and time that she put in while she was with us was unbelievable,” Ravenwood coach Andrew James said. “I saw her take over games for us in high school. She took us deep in the tournament her senior year, to substate.”
Grimes won two state titles in discus and two more in shot put at Ravenwood. Plus, she was the 2022 district Most Valuable Player in volleyball.
“Oh, she is the best athlete that I’ve coached on the girls side to this point,” James said. “There were so many mornings before school started where she was up there shooting and she was a really high-achieving student. She’s special.”
Rosamond feels that Grimes represents all that is right about college athletics.
“While Reghan was a great player coming out of high school, what made her so attractive to us at Tennessee Tech was the person that she is and the person she continues to be every single day,” Rosamond said.
“Her impact goes so far beyond the scoreboard and what she does on the court. She’s a leader on our campus, a leader in the community, a teammate you can count on and someone that raises the standard every day.”