NATCHEZ — The basketball career of Tangela Jones-Hawthorne will now forever be enshrined in not one, but two college halls of fame.

On April 21, Jones-Hawthorne was inducted into the William Carey University Sports Hall of Fame for her record-breaking basketball career. That followed on the heels of Jones-Hawthorne’s October 2011 induction into the Copiah Lincoln Community College Sports Hall of Fame.

The Natchez native, who played high school ball at North Natchez High School, said she was truly humbled by her induction.

“It’s something,” Jones-Hawthorne said. “It’s a humbling experience, and I have to give credit to every basketball coach, teammate and even opponent.”

Jones-Hawthorne was a power forward during her career, and she said she has to give credit to all the teammates the got her the ball during her career.

Jones-Hawthorne graduated from William Carey in 1994, and she said the university broke its own induction rules to get her in the hall of fame.

Jones-Hawthorne said she was honored by the induction because it was just the second time William Carey inducted athletes into its hall of fame. Initially, they told her they were going to stop selection nominations from players that played after 1980.

“Then they got to looking at my stats, and (they said) they had to include me,” she said.

Jones-Hawthorne holds the women’s career record for most points scored with 27.57 points per game. She also holds five other school records.

Jones-Hawthorne said she was surprised when she received the call about being inducted into the Co-Lin Hall of Fame.

The Natchez-native said her basketball life started at a young age while watching her older sister Lorrie Jones play.

“I tell everybody that in the beginning I never had any expectations,” she said. “I was just a little girl that wanted to play because my sister played. I became the little girl that wanted to play basketball, and in that moment I became a basketball player.”

Jones-Hawthorne said as a little girl she would walk to the youth center to play basketball, which usually meant she was matched up against boys.

“That helped me a lot,” she said.

Her career continued at North Natchez High School under the tutelage of Mary Jean Irving.

“She was more like a mentor to all of us,” she said. “Her and coach Sue Johnson were an inspiration as far as being a Christian athlete.”

Jones-Hawthorne said Irving was also instrumental in getting her signed with Co-Lin.

She said Co-Lin coach Gwyn Young then developed her from junior college star to an NAIA player.

“Coach Young was instrumental in my growth,” she said.

Jones-Hawthorne averaged 16.7 points and approximately eight rebounds a game at Co-Lin. But one memory from her days as a Lady Wolf still bothers her.

“My sophomore season we were undefeated, and I tore something in my knee,” she said. “So I had to have surgery, and they lost a game I was out of.”

Jones-Hawthorne quickly recovered from her injury and was back on the court in just two weeks, but Young told her the injury took away the team’s momentum.

“Coach Young said he thought if I wouldn’t have torn my knee we could have gone all the way. I will always remember that injury.”

Jones-Hawthorne went on to play for one year in Australia after she graduated from William Carey.

She said the game is not a huge part of her life now. She is married to Steven Hawthorne and has twin boys named Criston and Triston, 2. But she said that she has not ruled out the possibility of playing in the Hattiesburg City League.

“I told them I may have a game or two left in me,” she said.

She said she tries to keep up with Co-Lin and Natchez basketball, and she tries to go see the Bulldogs play when they visit Hattiesburg each year.