District of Columbia Downed by No. 22 NYIT, 67-53

WASHINGTON, DC – Turnovers and poor shooting hampered the University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team as the Firebirds suffered a 67-53 East Coast Conference loss to No. 22 NYIT at home Wednesday night.

The loss drops District of Columbia to 3-9 in the ECC (8-14 overall) and puts the Firebirds two games back of Queens for the 6^th and final playoff spot after the Knights upset LIU Post, 74-71 earlier tonight. NYIT improved to 19-1 on the season and 11-1 in league play to keep pace with Dowling for 1^st place in the standings.

The Firebirds were led by three scorers in double-figures, including sophomore guard Denikka Brent's (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) double-double of 13 points, 11 rebounds. Freshman forward Tatyana Calhoun (Environmental Science – Disputanta, VA/Susses Central HS) was also very active on the glass with 10 rebounds (six on the offensive glass) while adding 11 points for her first double-double of the season.  Sophomore center Lianne Miller (Health Education – Fareham, England/Swanmore College of Technology) also pitched in with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field while pulling down five boards and blocking two shots.

Meanwhile, NYIT forward Charlene Riddick led all scorers on the night with 15 points to go with seven rebounds and a game-high six steals. Nikki Jo Rotolo added 13 points, a game-high five assists and three steals, and Dina Ragab registered 10 points, five rebounds and five steals. The Bears' defense forced 19 steals (27 turnovers altogether) which they cashed in for 31 points on the night.

With the score just 10-10 nearly at the mid-point of the first half, NYIT used a 13-4 run over a span of nearly seven minutes to open up a 23-14 cushion with just over four minutes to play in the period. The Firebirds closed the gap to five with a pair of free-throws by Calhoun and a jumper by freshman Tiara Goode (Forensics – Brentwood, NY/Brentwood HS), and neither team scored for the final 1:21 of the half as the Bears took a 23-18 lead into intermission.

The two teams traded baskets for a few minutes when play resumed, but with NYIT already leading by seven (33-26), three different Bears made consecutive layups to complete a 6-0 run which bolstered the lead to 39-26 at the 14:27 mark. Still trailing by 13 a little over three minutes later, Calhoun made two consecutive layups to help the Firebirds pull back within nine, 43-34 at the 10:41 mark. But back-to-back layups by Riddick started what amounted to an 8-0 Bears march culminating in a Rotolo three-pointer to give NYIT its largest lead of the night, 51-34 with a little under nine minutes left in regulation.

At that point, Miller started to heat up for the Firebirds, making three straight outside jumpers to help District of Columbia on a 9-2 run which ended with a three-pointer by senior guard Janelle Junior (Administration of Justice – Riverside, CA/La Sierra HS) to make it a 10-point game, 53-43 with 6:24 to play. Then, after the two teams traded baskets, NYIT's Alex Venuto buried a three-pointer and Rotolo knocked down a jumper to up the Bears' lead to 60-45. Back came the Firebirds with a 6-0 surge, highlighted by two Brent layups, and District of Columbia was within nine, 60-51 with 2:19 showing on the clock.

Unfortunately for the Firebirds, however, that is where they ran out of gas, as NYIT closed out the game on a 7-2 run to win by a comfortable 14-point margin, 67-53.

District of Columbia had a decisive edge in rebounding (50-38), coming up with 20 offensive boards and cashing in for 16 second-chance points. However, the Bears out-shot District of Columbia 40-percent to 34-percent from the field, and they were much more efficient passers with 17 assists and 17 turnovers compared to the Firebirds' 14 assists and 27 turnovers.

The Firebirds will now head up to Sparkill, NY to take on ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 9^th.