Firebirds Second Half Rally Falls Short in, 73-67 Season Home-Opening Loss to GVSU

WASHINGTON, DC – Sophomore Denikka Brent led all scorers with 28 points for the Firebirds, but the University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team was defeated by Grand Valley St. in its season home opener on Saturday afternoon during game two of the Firebird Classic.

Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) shot 8-for-15 from the field (1-of-2 from long-range) and 11-of-18 from the foul line en-route to a career-high scoring performance. She also added five rebounds, two steals and a block. Senior guard Janelle Junior (Administration of Justice – Riverside, CA/La Sierra HS) and sophomore transfer guard Jadda Jefferies (Criminal Justice – Burlington, NC/Hugh H. Cummings HS) also added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the home team.

Grand Valley St., which travelled nearly 700 mikes from Allendale, MI, was led by three double-figure scorers. Briauna Taylor led the way with a double-double of 16 points and game-highs of 10 rebounds and seven assists while Lauren Stodola and Alex Stelfox pitched in with 15 and 11 points, respectively.

The two teams battled to six ties and six lead changes in the first nine-and-a-half minutes of play before Stodola's jumper at the 10:28 mark put the Lakers in front for the remainder of the first half with an initial 18-17 advantage. Still leading 22-21, GVSU went on a 9-1 run highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers by Breanna Kellogg and Kellie Watson, and the Lakers extended their lead to, 31-22. The Firebirds cut the deficit to five three separate times but Stelfox knocked down a jumper for the final points of the half to put Grand Valley St. up seven, 38-31 at the intermission.

The Firebirds had the initial spark when play resumed for the second half, scoring the first four points of the frame and cutting the GVSU lead to three, 38-35; however, a lay-up by Stelfox and a pair of free-throws by Taylor upped the Lakers' lead back to seven just minutes later. District of Columbia really made a push when trailing 48-41 around the 13-minute mark. Brent's three-pointer ignited a 9-0 Firebirds surge which pushed the home team in front for the first time since the 11:32 mark of the first half by a slim margin of, 50-48. Junior and Jefferies also knocked down long-range bombs during the run, with Jefferies' make resulting in the Firebirds' two-point advantage with 11:34 left to play.

As both teams continued to battle, there were two more ties and four more lead changes before an 11-2 Lakers run gave Grand Valley St. a 67-60 cushion with 4:11 left in regulation. Jefferies drove into the paint and converted a running jump shot with just under four minutes to play, and later, Brent put in a layup at the 1:50 mark to cut the GVSU lead to three, 67-64. That would be as close as the Firebirds would get the rest of the way though, as the Lakers' Emily England made two consecutive layups – the second of which she turned into a three-point play on an and-one opportunity to put her team up 72-64 with just 28 seconds left to go. Grand Valley St. went on to win by a final of 73-67.

The Lakers held a 46-percent to 41-percent shooting advantage from the field and shot considerably better (71-percent to 58-percent) from the free-throw line in making 20-of-28 compared to District of Columbia's 15-of-26. GVSU also won the rebounding battle, 40-32 and registered 15 second-chance points to the Firebirds' nine.

District of Columbia (1-3) will look to bounce back tomorrow as the Firebirds host Florida Southern at 3 p.m. The Moccasins (0-2) were defeated by Bowie State, 57-54 in the first game of the Firebird Classic earlier today.