District of Columbia Women's Basketball to Host "Firebird Classic" Saturday and Sunday

2012-13 University of the District of Columbia Women's Basketball Firebird Classic Notes

Nov. 17 – UDC vs. Grand Valley St., 3 p.m.

Nov. 18 – UDC vs. Florida Southern, 3 p.m.

Opening Tip-Off

After two neutral site tournament games and a road contest to start the season, the Firebirds (1-2) finally come home to host the two-day, four-team, "Firebird Classic" at UDC Gym on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. District of Columbia takes on Grand Valley St. on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Florida Southern on Sunday at 3 p.m. In other tournament action, Bowie St. will play Florida Southern on Saturday at 1 p.m. and then Grand Valley St. on Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will have Live Stats and Live Stream, with play-by-play announcer, Eli Pearlstein calling the action for both Firebird contests this weekend.

Updating the Firebirds

The Firebirds opened the 2012-13 season at the two-day, four-team, East Coast Conference/Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Challenge, hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas in Sparkill, NY. There, they were defeated in back-to-back games by two CACC schools, Caldwell and Goldey-Beacom. District of Columbia rebounded nicely though with a solid, 69-52 win at crosstown rival, Washington Adventist on Tuesday. Senior Janelle Junior leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg) and is shooting 59-percent from the field and 55-percent from long-range through three games. Meanwhile, junior forward Robin Keke has also been a force in the paint, averaging 7.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per-game.

Scouting Grand Valley St.

Grand Valley St. comes into this tournament with a 1-0 record having dominated Olivet, 68-50 in its season opener at home on November 12^th. The Lakers, who come all the way from Allendale, Michigan, have a rich basketball tradition as they started their 44^th season of basketball with a program mark of 691-434 (.614) which includes 12 seasons of 20-plus wins. GVSU is coached by Janel Burgess, who owns an 85-56 mark at in five seasons at the helm. The Lakers compete in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, where they were picked to finish 3^rd in a pre-season poll.

Scouting Florida Southern

The Moccasins opened with an extremely tough road game at No. 5 South Carolina Aiken and lost by a score of 71-52. Playing in their first game under new head coach Holly Borchers, the Mocs were within six at halftime but ran out of gas in the second half. Taylor Maldonado led FSC with 18 points, scoring 14 of them in the first stanza. The Moccasins, who come all the way from Lakeland, Florida and play in the Sunshine State Conference, finished 24-7 last season and advanced to the 2012 NCAA South Regional semifinals.