Tiya Douglas doesn’t wear her state championship rings she won as a sophomore and junior.

Her teammates have yet to ask her what it’s like to play in a state championship game.

But if the Northside Lady Bears are able to advance to the 6A title game, Douglas may be in high demand to dispense advice.

“We really haven’t talked about it, it hasn’t came up really,” said Douglas, a 5-foot-10 senior forward. “But probably once we get to that point, they might ask.

“So my advice would probably be to calm down, slow down, just don’t get too overly nervous and just play our game and we’ll be fine.”

And should the Lady Bears win state, that would also give Douglas a very unique distinction — winning three state championships for three different schools.

Two years ago as a sophomore, she was part of Fayetteville’s state title squad. Last season, she won state in Oklahoma, playing for Owasso.

Now, she is in prime position to win another ring playing for a Northside team that has been ranked No. 1 in 6A for most of the season. The Lady Bears (25-1) will play Bryant in the 6A quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Thursday at Bentonville West after Bryant defeated Van Buren in a first-round game Wednesday.

“Honestly, I’ve blessed to be able to do this, and get the opportunity to do this because not many people have done it,” Douglas said. “I appreciate everybody on every team that I’ve gone to, I’ve appreciated it and glad they’ve took me wherever I’ve been.”


The reason Douglas has been to three different schools in three years has been her accompanying her mother, Tari Cummings, currently the head coach of the UAFS women’s basketball team. Cummings was an assistant at Arkansas when Douglas was at Fayetteville; then when Cummings accepted a job as an assistant for Tulsa’s women last season, Douglas moved there and played at nearby Owasso.

So with her mom taking over the helm of the Lady Lions last summer, Douglas became a Lady Bear.

“It’s a lot of moving, a lot of change,” Douglas said. “But each place I’ve went, my mother gave me the opportunity and be able to win a state championship, and I think that’s the perks of everything of me moving; I’ve got the opportunity.”

And with her mom as a coach as well as a former standout player, both in high school at Pocola and in college at Westark (now UAFS), learning basketball came easy for Tiya Douglas, once she decided she wanted to play the sport.

“She had a huge impact,” Douglas said of her mother. “We worked in the gym every day and it was a consistent thing once I decided to play.

“At first, I didn’t want to (play basketball), I didn’t want anything to do with it, but her and my father (Jamal Douglas, who is an accountant in Chicago) helped a lot in that situation as in giving me the resources and places to go and AAU and everything.”

Douglas has also learned to adapt to the changes for another reason.


She has endured two ACL injuries, the latter to her right knee in April of last year playing AAU basketball while Douglas was still in Owasso.

After moving to Fort Smith, Douglas wasn’t sure if she would be ready to go at the start of the season.

“There honestly was (doubt) for me; I didn’t think I would be back in time for (the season) to start but I knew I would come back, but I just didn’t know when,” she said. “I thought it would hold me back a little bit until about December, but I was able to come back right when the Red and White game (the Lady Bears’ annual intra-squad game to start the season) was, so that was awesome and that was great.”

Douglas, who still wears a heavy brace on her right knee, has been the team’s third-leading scorer, averaging 8.8 points a game to go with 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

In the Lady Bears’ first game against Conway, on the road, she scored 27 points in a Northside win. Douglas has also went for double figures each of the last two ballgames, including 22 in the team’s Senior Night win against Cabot on Feb. 19.

“She’s very physical, a very intense player; she brings a quiet air of confidence to her game,” Northside coach Rickey Smith said.

“But the thing I’m so proud of and so impressed about Tiya is her ability to adapt with three different philosophies and three different coaching staffs, and to fit into today’s world with teenage kids at three different schools. If you polled our locker room, one of our favorites in that locker room would be Tiya Douglas and tells you a little bit about what kind of kid she is. ... She fits in and the kids really, really respect her.”


Douglas, who possesses a 3.8 grade-point average, is planning to play basketball at the junior college level next season. But instead of wanting to be a coach like her mom, Tiya Douglas wants to study to become an athletic trainer.

That’s still down the road. For the next couple of weeks, Douglas is determined to complete her own personal “three-peat” and add another state title, for her and for the Lady Bears.

“I’m honestly excited to see if it will happen and that will just be great,” Douglas said. “I feel like that will be a historic moment for me if I’m able to get that done.”


