Firebirds Offense Stalls in 58-43 Loss at Bridgeport

BRIDGEPORT, CT – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team never found its offense as the Firebirds were defeated by host Bridgeport, 58-43 on Saturday afternoon in their East Coast Conference season opener.

With the loss, the Firebirds fell to 4-4 overall and 0-1 in ECC play while Bridgeport improvd to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in leage play.

District of Columbia's two leading scorers, senior Janelle Junior (Administration of Justice – Riverside, CA/La Sierra HS) and sophomore Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) struggled all day as they combined for just six points and shot 1-for-17  from the field. The Firebirds, as a team, shot  just 18-of-74 (24-percent) from the field and 1-of-16 (six-percent) from three-point range while comitting 23 turnovers as their 43 points was a season-low.

Two freshmen, reserve guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore (Public Health – Newport News, VA/Denbigh HS) and reserve forward Tatyana Calhoun (Env ironmental Science – Disputanta, VA/Sussex Central HS) led the way for District of Columbia on the offensive end. Baldwin-Kollore notched her first career double-double with team-highs of 11 points and 10 rebounds while Calhoun pitched in with 10 points and nine rebounds.

 Meanwhile, Bridgeport was led by the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, Tanisha Carter, who registered a game-high 21 points and five rebounds. Priscilla Dodoo and Jenna Hoffman added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

The Purple Knights scored the game's first 17 points while holding the Firebirds scoreless for nearly the first nine minutes of play. They led 20-2 after Hoffman's three-pointer at the 11-minute mark, but District of Columbia mounted a bit of a comeback, scoring 14 of the next 19 points to close the gap to nine, 25-16. However, consecutive baskets by Carter increased Bridgeport's lead back to 13 as the two teams headed to the locker rooms for intermission.

Calhoun scored the first points of the second half with a jumper just 15 seconds in, but Bridgeport answered with a 10-0 run to go up 39-18 at the 16-minute mark. The Purple Knights' lead ballooned to as many as 25 at the 5:15 mark as they coasted to a comfortable, 58-43 victory to improve to 4-0 at home while sending the Firebirds (3-1 on the road) their first road loss of the season.

The Firebirds will look to bounce back when they host out of region opponent Nova Southeastern on Tuesday, December 11^th at 6 p.m.