Firebirds Roll to 7th Straight Victory at Daemen
Senior guard ShaKena Williams was 6-of-9 from three-point range and finished with a game-high 20 points.
AMHERST, NY – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team won its 7thstraight game, 86-62 on the road at East Coast Conference foe Daemen Friday night at Lumsden Gymnasium.
The Firebirds, led by the outstanding outside shooting of senior guard ShaKena Williams(Accounting – Washington, DC/Frederick CC) and the interior play of senior forward Denikka Brent(Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) improved to 18-3 overall and 11-2 in league play with tonight's win.
Williams led all scorers with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from long range, and Brent packed the stat sheet with 18 points (8-of-14 FG shooting), six rebounds, five assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Junior guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore (Criminal Justice – Newport News, VA/Denbigh HS) also contributed 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Daemen, which lost its fifth straight and fell to 5-8 in league play (8-11 overall), was led by forward Natalie Galus with team-highs of 17 points and eight rebounds. Also tied for the team-high scoring mark of 17 was guard Sarah Saba, who turned in a team best four assists as well.
The key statistical discrepancy was the Firebirds' superior assist-to-turnover ratio, as the two teams tied with 15 assists, but the UDC defense forced 23 Wildcats turnovers and UDC only turned the ball over 10 times. The Firebirds capitalized on the Daemen mishaps with 28 points off of turnovers.
The Wildcats hung in with the Firebirds early on, matching each UDC basket and forcing three ties within the first five minutes of play, including a 7-7 deadlock at the 15:41 mark. At that point, Baldwin-Kollore started and ended a UDC 10-0 run with a three-pointer and a jumper, respectively, and helped the Firebirds gain a 10-point advantage, 17-7. Still ahead 28-19 past the eight-minute mark, a three-pointer by senior guard Telisha Turner(Criminal Justice – Wilmington, DE/Harcum) kick-started a 7-0 Firebirds surge that gave them their largest lead of the half, 35-19. Daemen ended the half on a 10-4 run, however, and closed to within 10 (39-29) before the halftime horn.
Outscoring their hosts 20-10 in the first 7:17 of the second half courtesy of two Turner three-pointers and another by Williams, UDC took a comfortable 59-39 lead and cruised the rest of the way. The Firebirds led by as many as 26 in the closing period and never let Daemen any closer than 15 as they went on to win by a 24-point margin.
Next, UDC will complete is five-game road stretch with a Sunday afternoon contest at Roberts Wesleyan at 2 p.m.
Firebirds Drop 3rd Straight at Daemen
Senior guard Michael Terry led UDC with 23 points.
AMHERST, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's basketball team dropped its 3rdstraight game at Daemen, 102-74, in East Coast Conference play from the Lumsden Gymnasium Friday night.
The Firebirds fell to 4-17 overall and 4-9 in league play while the Wildcats (3rd in the league standings) bounced back from a 93-83 loss at Queens last week and improved to 15-6 overall and 10-3 in the ECC.
Senior guard Michael Terry (Criminal Justice – Philadelphia, PA/Boston U) led all UDC scorers with 23 points on 8-of-17 FG shooting (5-of-10 from long range) and hauled in a team-high seven rebounds. His backcourt counterpart, freshman Kory Cooley (Art – Silver Spring, MD/Calvin Coolidge HS) registered 21 points on 9-of-16 FG shooting, handed out three assists and had two blocked shots.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats were led by ECC Preseason Player of the Year Gerald Beverly with a game-high 27 points (11-of-14 FG shooting), five rebounds, five blocked shots and four steals. Three other Wildcat starters scored in double-figures as the hosts shot a blistering 57.5-percent from the field and won the rebounding battle, 42-30. Daemen was also the more efficient offense with 23 assists and only nine turnovers compared to UDC's 14 assists and 13 turnovers.
Torrency Dyck (17 points) scored four early points to help the Wildcats race out to an 11-2 lead a little over two minutes in. UDC closed within three, 15-12 after a 10-4 run culminating in a three-pointer by sophomore guardReggie Sidbury (Social Work – Landover, MD/Charles Herbert Flowers HS), and it still remained only a four-point game, 23-19 with 11 minutes left in the first half. At that point, however, Daemen erupted for a 13-0 run in less than a five-minute span, and took a 36-19 lead on a three-pointer by Aaron Davis (10 points). The Wildcats would lead 52-34 at halftime.
Daemen out-scored UDC 13-6 in the first six minutes of the second half to take a commanding, 65-40 lead. The Firebirds never got any closer than 17 the rest of the way, as Daemen coasted to a 28-point victory, 102-74.
Next up, UDC completes its five-game road stretch with a Sunday afternoon game at Roberts Wesleyan. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.
