by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Timeka O’Neal has climbed the ranks of collegiate basketball. An NJCAA All-American and University of Kansas standout, she’s ready to pass along the experiences of that climb as the new assistant women’s basketball coach at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
A volunteer coach at KCKCC last season, O’Neal replaces three-year assistant Chamissa Anderson who is now an assistant at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.
O’Neal was named to the NJCAA All-American third team as a sophomore at Johnson County Community College in 2014 and then continued her collegiate career at Kansas where she finished second on the Jayhawks’ all-time list of most accurate 3-point shooters.
Netting 42 of 117 3-point attempts for 35.9.percent in 28 games during the 2016-17 season, she also finished fourth in the Big 12 and was a Big 12 Player of the Week. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in communications.
“Very excited to add Timeka to our fulltime staff,” KCKCC head coach Joe McKinstry said. “She displayed a lot of hard work and dedication to our program last year and was great resource for our players. Her playing experience helps her serve as a tremendous asset to our player and her insight will be a great addition.”
“After KU I didn’t know what avenue I wanted to take but I knew I wanted to help because I was at that level playing in community college and then NCAA Division I,” O’Neal said. “After my year at KCKCC I said yes, I could do this and be good at it.”
A 5-foot-4 point guard in her playing days, O’Neal will work mainly with the guards and shooting guards.
O’Neal said her season at KCKCC was very important.
“It’s a different game from the coach’s side and the players’ side,” she said. “You learn that every player is important and you have to have patience. You can’t do this job without patience. And to be successful, everyone has to be on the same page and strive to get better every day.”
In her two seasons as a starter at JCCC, O’Neal led the Lady Cavaliers to a 60-4 record and two Jayhawk Conference championships. She finished her Cavalier career ranked seventh on JCCC’s assist chart (284), fourth in free throw percentage (.796), 11th in 3-point goals (105) and 26th in scoring (695). In double figures 37 times, she averaged 11.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists in her two-year career.
An All-Region and All-Jayhawk first team selection as a sophomore, O’Neal earned WBCA All-American honorable mention in addition to being named an NJCAA All-American. Averaging 5.1 assists and 11.7 points, the Cavaliers were 30-2 and ranked No. 2 in the final NJCAA poll.
A 2012 graduate of Raytown High School, O’Neal was the Player of the Year in the Suburban Mid Seven Conference as a senior and a four-time all-conference selection.
Averaging in double figures in scoring all four years, she averaged 20 points as a senior and was selected to play in the MO-KAN All-Star Challenge.
A U.S. Army academic award winner, she helped lead Raytown to four conference championships and was a three-time All-District selection.