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| UDC Senior guard ShaKena Williams made a career-high eight three-pointers to lead all scorers with 24 points. |
NEXT GAME: Jan. 17, Dowling College Golden Lions, 1 PM at Washington, D.C.
BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut – After falling behind by 11 early in the second half, the East Coast Conference pre-season favorite University of the District of Columbia demonstrated its championship team caliber by fighting all the way back to earn a 70-66 victory on the road at Bridgeport Wednesday night in Hubell Gym.
The Firebirds (12-3, 5-2 ECC) avenged last year's regular season finale loss at Bridgeport and bounced back from Saturday's loss at Queens as they completed their three-game road stretch with two victories. UDC will return to the nation's capital to host Dowling on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Senior guard ShaKena Williams (Accounting – Washington, DC/Frederick CC), inserted into the starting lineup for just the second time this season, carried the Firebirds with a career shooting night, making 8-of-11 three-pointers for a career-high 24 points while also registering five assists and two steals. Junior guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore (Criminal Justice – Newport News, VA/Denbigh HS) also shot 3-of-8 from behind-the-arc as she finished with 15 points.
Bridgeport (2-13, 0-7 ECC) did a commendable job defensively on senior forward Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington), holding her to just seven points on 3-of-11 from the field and 1-of 2 from the foul line. Brent, however, made her presence felt with a game-high nine rebounds, including six on the offensive glass. Junior forward Tatyana Calhoun (Architecture – Disputanta, VA/Sussex Central HS) also hauled in seven rebounds (five offensive) and notched her 5th double-figure scoring game of the season with 14 points.
The Purple Knights, who have now lost four straight games, were led by guard Jennifer Kucukkaya's 13 points and six assists, while interior players Tiara Aziz and Evelyn Ovner also scored 13 points apiece and combined for 13 rebounds. Aziz, who's layup in the final seconds of regulation sent the Purple Knights to an 80-78 victory over UDC the last time these two met, also handed out six assists.
Bridgeport out-shot UDC 54-percent to 38-percent from the field in the first half, but UDC managed to stay in the game thanks to nine offensive rebounds and Williams' 5-of-6 three-point shooting. No more than five points separated the two teams in the first half, but Bridgeport broke a 32-all tie with a 4-0 run to end the period as the Purple Knights led 36-32 at intermission.
The momentum carried over into the second half as Bridgeport opened on a 7-0 run and took its largest lead of the night, 43-32 almost two minutes into the closing period. At that point, however, Brent's 1-of-2 trip at the free-throw line began a 20-6 run by the Firebirds over the next eight minutes which included a three-pointer by Williams and two by Baldwin-Kollore – the second of which put UDC ahead, 52-49 near the 10-minute mark.
Kucukkaya buried a three-pointer in response for UB, igniting a 7-0 Purple Knights surge which put the hosts back on top, 56-52 a little over a minute later. Near the six-minute mark, Ovner's layup put Bridgeport up 60-54, but Calhoun's jump-shot kicked off a 12-2 game-changing run by the Firebirds which included back-to-back three-point bombs by Williams to propel UDC to a 66-62 lead with 29 seconds remaining.
The Firebirds went on to make 6-of-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch as they pulled away with a four-point victory on the road.
BOX SCORE
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SPORTS INFORMATION
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