![]() ![]() Perry said she decided to bring the team to help when she realized Kennerson’s entire neighborhood was affected. The fourth of six children and her family were sheltered in Sulphur and came back after four days to start cleaning up from the flood. “The people in the Jeeps and all that came to the front door and knocked and said, ‘It’s time for you all to go. “That morning, when it really started flooding, that’s when we evacuated,” she said. The flood reached their beds, Joyce said. A foot high of water stains from flooding remained in his house almost a week later. He was like, ‘It’s not going to do nothing.’”Īnthony was proven wrong. “But you know him he came outside to the garage to watch the flood. “We told my dad to evacuate,” Joyce said. She finished her last summer class in July and stayed in her Port Arthur home until Harvey,Īt the time a tropical storm, reached her community the following Tuesday. and returned to campus to feed the kids barbecue, “so they were OK for days,” she said. Somehow, Perry said, TSU football coach Michael Haywood made it to H.E.B. The football team was stuck on campus as well following a trip to Florida A&M for a nationally televised game. When the flood cleared, the team bought $2,000 in supplies from Sam’s. “They played basketball and lifted weights.” ![]() “The team stayed in locker room for four days,” Perry said. H&PE Arena, where the Tigers play their home games, sheltered evacuees, but the team found their sanctuary in their own locker room. “I had two stuck in Atlanta - they could not fly out - and one in Dallas that couldn’t get in.” Five of her returning players and three newcomers, she said, were on campus when the storm hit Houston. She saw firsthand how her team came together when Harvey gave them their biggest challenge to date. ![]() “We wanted to be a blessing to the Kennersons, but also to people in this community as well.” “My family is from the Orange-Beaumont area, so this is another place like home for us,” said Perry, who grew up in Houston. Harvey literally and emotionally affected TSU coach Johnetta Hayes-Perry as it continued a path through Southeast Texas. Now, we’re just here to help them with what they need help with.” What would they have to do? I’m glad Joyce and her family are OK. “A lot of the homeless people I was worried about. “All kinds of things are going on in my mind, making sure families are safe kids,” she said. It was still a hurricane when it flooded Houston. ![]() Palmer is used to tornados blowing through her home state of Kansas, but Harvey was something she had never seen. “They told us we were actually going to come do it.” “Ever since they told us they had the hurricane here, we’ve all been worried about Joyce and wanting to come down and help her,” said senior guard Kaitlyn Palmer, the Tigers’ third leading scorer. After Harvey made his presence felt, it was only natural her team would turn to her with an assist, but this time Joyce didn’t have to deliver. Joyce was the team’s leading scorer last season at 18.3 points per game. Texas Southern finished the season 23-10 following a 119-30 loss to host Baylor a week later in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The 20-year-old was named most valuable player of the conference tournament, the first the Tigers won in program history. Not far from the campus at the Toyota Center, the 5-foot-4 point guard scored 29 points, making 11 of 22 field-goal attempts and scoring the final point of a 70-66 win over Grambling State in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game. ![]()
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