Sunday, January 3, 2016

UDC Firebirds Fight Off Devils for 7th Straight Win

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team fought off a pesky University of the Sciences team, 72-69 in regional play Sunday afternoon in our nation's capital.

With their 7th straight victory, the Firebirds improved to 9-3 overall while the Devils loss dropped USciences to 3-10. UDC also improved to 3-0 vs. the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference with today's win.

Senior forward Tiara Goode led four double-figure scorers for UDC with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-10 FG shooting and 5-of-8 from long range. Sixteen of her points came in the 3rd quarter as she dictated much of a transformative 22-6 surge by the Firebirds which brought them from down seven (38-31) to up nine (53-44). Goode also contributed five rebounds and two assists.

Other key performances for UDC included senior guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore's 17 points and team-high four assists, team newcomer junior transfer Brandi Henton's 14 points, three assists and three steals in 21 minutes off the bench in her Firebird debut, and senior forward Tatyana Calhoun's 10 points and game-high eight rebounds.



The Firebirds out-shot their guests 49-percent to 40-percent from the field, and they out-scored the Devils 32-16 in the paint, 14-5 on the fast break, and 21-13 in bench points. UDC also caused five more turnovers (21-16) and had 25 points off of turnovers compared to just nine by USciences.

Poor free-throw shooting (11-of-18) by UDC allowed the Devils to stay in the game as the guests made 10-of-12 on their end. Also, USciences was a tad better shooting from long distance, making 11-of-27 (41-percent) to UDC's 9-of-23 (39-percent). The Devils made four three-point field goals in the 4th quarter, including Natalie Stella's triple to make it a one-point game (70-69) with eight seconds left in regulation.

UDC opened the game on a 9-0 run, but back-to-back three-pointers by Marissa Sylvester (19 pts) helped the Devils get back in the game as they outscored UDC 10-5 the rest of the quarter and made it 14-10 at the end of the opening period.

The action would intensify in the 2nd quarter as USciences' Amber Reiley (6 pts, 7 rebounds), Micah Morgan (20 pts., 8 rb.) and Sylvester all contributed during an 18-7 run by the Devils over the next 4:17. With USciences already up 23-21, the Firebirds' bench was whistled for back-to-back technical fouls resulting in UDC head coach DeWayne Burroughs' ejection. Morgan, who had already made one free-throw before the technicals, went on to make three more and later a layup, as USciences grabbed its largest lead of the afternoon, 28-21 with 5:43 left in the first half. UDC would trail 30-24 at halftime.

Both teams opened the 3rd quarter 3-for-3 from the field, but it was Sylvester's back-to-back triples which again opened up a seven-point USciences advantage, 38-31. But at that point, Goode took over for the Firebirds, kick-starting the game-changing 22-6 surge with a jump shot at 7:12, burying three straight three-point field goals, and culminating the run with a running jumper at 1:14 which gave UDC a 53-44 lead. The Firebirds would take a 53-47 advantage into the final quarter.

UDC remained on the offensive attack as a three-pointer by Henton kick-started a 10-0 run by the Firebirds as they opened up their largest lead of the day, 63-47 with 7:23 remaining. USciences would not go away easily, however, as reserve Molly Greenberg came in the game and quickly knocked down two long-range shots and Morgan added another all during a 15-3 surge by the Devils to pull within four, 66-62 with 2:41 left to play.

The next two UDC possessions resulted in trips to the foul line as the Firebirds converted 3-of-4 and upped their lead to seven, 69-62 with 2:07 showing on the clock. A pair of free-throws by Megan Wolf, followed later by an Amber Reiley layup cut the deficit to three, 69-66 with 48 ticks left, and after a 1-of-2 free-throw line trip by Henton, Natalie Stella got a friendly roll on a three-pointer at the top of the key to pull the Devils within one, 70-69 with eight seconds left.

Confusion on the part of the Devils after the quick UDC inbounds pass allowed for three seconds to run off the clock before USciences could foul Baldwin-Kollore – the 2nd best free-throw shooter in the East Coast Conference. Baldwin-Kollore calmly sank both to make it a three-point game, and Sylvester's three-point attempt at the buzzer rimmed out as the Firebirds held on for their 7th straight victory.

UDC will return to East Coast Conference play on Wednesday night, January 6th as the Firebirds host the University of Bridgeport at 5 p.m.

BOX SCORE

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SPORTS INFORMATION

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