SGN = She Got Next = Girl Empowerment
Pine Bluff's All-Girls Basketball League Says "Watch Us, Boys!"
You may think basketball season is over, but you'd be wrong.
On an April morning, the Mercury and the Lynx are playing each other in the gym at Pine Bluff's Salvation Army. Both teams are part of SGN — She Got Next — an all-girls basketball league that focuses on empowering girls.
This is SNG’s first year and 80 girls from around the county and southeast Arkansas (Gould, Dumas, Rison, Sheridan, Hot Springs, Sheridan, Hermitage) and even as far away as Batesville play.
The league is the vision of Kelso Alexander, a Pine Bluff native, who wanted to give girls in third through eighth grades a league of their own.
"I wanted girls in the city to feel empowered," Alexander said. "I want them to learn the fundamentals of basketball. Dribbling, passing and shooting. That's it. Basketball can open doors. Everyone co,nes out to watch the boys but I want the girls to get attention, too."
SGN is for girls who may have never played basketball or have played and want to play more while gaining fundamental training that can take them a long way – hopefully to college on an athletic scholarship and as far as the WBNA. Ultimately, it’s about giving girls hope and confidence and helping them fulfill dreams.
While some of the players are connected to Alexander's Bryson Warren United, the only girls AAU organization in Pine Bluff, a lot of the girls aren’t in AAU yet.
“I knew I had one chance to do it right for people to see the vision," Alexander said. "Now people are getting on board."
And they are.
Pine Bluff native Zee Butler, owner of The Ball Code and a former college basketball standout, said Alexander is making a major difference in the city.
“What Coach Kelso has done was closed one of the biggest gaps in sports for the city by focusing on girls basketball," Butler said. "He has a heart for putting Pine Bluff on the map and trying to convince the citizens to hop on board by supporting."
Alexander is an example when determination lights your path.
He was cut four years in a row at Pine Bluff High School before transferring to Watson Chapel. He was cut once again. That obstacle didn’t stop him.
Alexander played in the Youth Basketball Association where he recorded all of his games to make highlight reels. That was enough to get a call from Mountain View Junior College in Dallas where he walked on and played two years before earning a scholarship at Paul Quinn, an HBCU in Arlington, Texas, where he played basketball before transferring on scholarship to Dallas Christian College where he had a career-high scoring points per game.
After four years of college ball, Alexander played semi-pro ball starting with the Texas Wranglers where he was the MVP of the league, averaging 25 points per game and UBL rookie of the year honors.
Alexander went on to play with the Little Rock Lightning (ABA), Conway cyclones (ABA) and Arkansas Bobcats (UBL) while winning four UBL championships and 2 MVP awards. After training to go overseas to play basketball, Alexander had a life-threatening motorcycle accident in 2015. That stopped his playing career but it didn’t stop him. He began focusing on coaching and training.
Like many people who return to Jefferson County, Alexander came home to make a difference. Alexander said he felt a calling to help girls because of his daughter who wanted to play. He figured that there likely more girls out there who also wanted to play.
Today, girls and women basketball are receiving more recognition and respect for their level of talent. Just look at NCAA national champs Louisiana State University Tigers with players like Angel Reese who are becoming national household names just like their male counterparts and landing high-dollar NIL deals.
If girls learn the fundamentals, it will be an easier path for high school coaches to work with the girls and turn them into forces on the court. That then increases the visibility of Pine Bluff as a recruiting city for girls basketball players.
And here’s a tip recruiters: You may want to put Alexander’s SGN girls on their radar now.
The league was initially based off of a group called the “Fab 8” that included Eryne Scott, Khanzis McDonley, Kaylei Willingham, Jordyn Alexander, Camilla Marlow, Za’Caira Hardimon, Addisyn Anderson and Jamiyah Davis. These girls were part of Bryson Warren United – Pine Bluff’s first nationally-ranked team in the country in 2021 at #32.
Scott, who is in fifth grade at Coleman Elementary, scored 40 points in her first game setting the SNG league record in scoring. She also averaged 35 points per game playing up in junio high school ball this past season.
Alexander wants to see the girls he coaches receive D1 offers once they hit high school. He noted that not many female high school athletes in Jefferson County receive D1 offers and he wants to be a moving force to change that. It’s possible. You only have to look at Butler who received such an offer and played hoops.
“As a former Division 1 player, I am proof that it is possible to reach a dream that may seem impossible and it all started with the support of Pine Bluff,” Butler said.
Amy Lowe’s two daughters, Kaneii and Kamarii Ringo, have received MVP honors in the SNG league. Kaneii plays for the Liberty team, and Kamarii plays for the Suns. They are also on the Bryson Warren AAU team.
“I feel like it is important for the SGN Elite basketball organization to exist because sports options are already very limited for women,” Kamarii said. “By having this league, we are afforded the opportunity to be able to display our talent knowing that we exist on the next level (WBNA) also.”
Kaneii has something more to prove.
“Some boys think that girls can’t do what they do or as good as they do,” Kaneii said.
Boys just need to hit up a SGN game on a Saturday morning to see that they have some competition for the limelight.
Alexander said he couldn’t do any of his vision without local support. Jason Perdieu and the Salvation Army gives SGN a home to practice and play games.
“If it wasn’t for him this wouldn’t be possible,” Alexander said.
Alexander also has three assistant female coaches – Keirria Brice, Alvin Everett and Debra Taylor – to help because dealing with girls and their attitudes sometimes is in itself a team effort. Girls will be girls, bringing drama and attitude, which Alexander nixes the minute he senses it.
It’s not that boys basketball isn’t important, but Alexander wants people from all over the state to watch and support SNG as his players become tomorrow’s stars.
With that he says SNG is this: #tunnelvision, trust the process, #SGN=the future of girls basketball.