Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Women's Basketball: UDC 69 St. Thomas Aquinas 68

Brandi Henton (#20) erupted for 17 first half points

From our friends at UDC Athletics...

No. 3 Firebirds Sneak Past No. 6 Spartans, 69-68 in ECC Women’s Quarterfinal

The No. 3 seed University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team used a pair of free-throws by senior forward Tatyana Calhoun with half a second remaining in regulation to beat No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas College, 69-68 in East Coast Conference quarterfinal action from our nation's capital Wednesday night.

With the win, the Firebirds (21-8) advance to the semifinals where they will meet No. 2 seed Queens College on Saturday, March 5th at 2:30 PM at the UDC Sports Complex. St. Thomas, which won the previous meeting between these schools by 19 points at UDC in front of a national TV audience just 10 days ago, concluded its season at 18-10 overall with tonight's loss.

Tatyana Calhoun (#32, 10 points) led UDC with 7 rebounds

These two ECC foes were never separated by more than four points the entire game, as they butted heads for 16 ties and 22 lead changes. The last two of those lead changes came in the final minute of regulation.

Iman Scott (#24) scored 17 points on 8-11 shooting

Jenna Erickson, who led all scorers with 28 points, knocked down her seventh three-pointer of the game to put the Spartans up, 68-67 with 56 seconds remaining. The Firebirds were charged with an offensive foul on the ensuing possession, but forced a STAC miss at the other end, giving them the ball for one last possession with 19 seconds left.

Arielle Ward (#5) added 6 rebounds & 2 steals

A sloppy possession resulted in an off-balance running jumper by senior guard Arielle Ward that rimmed out, but Calhoun, one of the top-five offensive rebounders in the nation, was there to clean up the glass. She was fouled on her put-back attempt with .5 of a second remaining, and went on to sink both shots at the line. STAC would turn the ball over on the inbounds pass, and UDC escaped with the one-point victory.

The Firebirds were a perfect 11-of-11 at the foul line on the night while STAC was 12-of-16. UDC also out-shot the Spartans 46-percent to 43-percent from the field, out-rebounded them 35-26 and out-scored them 30-12 in the paint. The Firebirds also had an 18-11 advantage in second-chance points.

STAC managed to stay in the game with stellar three-point shooting. Three Spartan guards, Erickson, Alyson Brennan and Alex Bertolino, combined to shoot 14-of-25 (56-percent) from behind-the-arc. Erickson was a game-best 7-of-13, Brennan was 4-for-4 off the bench for 12 points, and Bertolino was 3-for-6 and finished with 11.

Meanwhile, four of UDC's starting five scored in double-figures, with senior guard Iman Scott and junior guard Brandi Henton leading the way with 17 points apiece. Henton, who did all her scoring in the first half, also registered five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Senior guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore finished with 13 points for the night, as she scored 11 of those in the second half.

Rebounding efforts were led by Calhoun, who hauled in a team-high seven to go with 10 points. Ward and senior forward Tiara Goode each collected six boards as well, with Goode adding eight points, including two pivotal three-point makes.

Click here for tonight's box score.