Firebirds Cruise to Upset Victory Over No. 11 Holy Family

WASHINGTON, DC – On the five-year anniversary of the program's monumental upset win over No. 2 ranked California (PA), the University of the District of Columbia cruised to an 80-66 upset victory over No. 11 ranked Holy Family on Tuesday night in the nation's capital.

The Firebirds, who received votes for the last USA Today Coaches' Poll released back on November 3^rd, led wire-to-wire as they improved to 3-0 on the season with tonight's win. The Tigers, who have appeared in the last 10 straight NCAA Division II Tournaments, fell to 1-2 with the loss. UDC has now won the last two meetings between these two schools – both when HFU came into the game ranked in the top-25.

Junior guard Telisha Turner (Criminal Justice – Wilmington, DE/Harcum) led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-13 field goal shooting (4-of-11 from three-point range) and 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line. She also handed out a game-high four assists and grabbed four rebounds.

Reigning East Coast Conference Player of the Week, sophomore forward Tatyana Calhoun (Environmental Science – Disputanta, VA/Sussex Central HS), registered 14 points (5-of-7 FG) and seven rebounds, and junior guard/forward Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) posted a double-double of 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Also, sophomore forward Tiara Goode (Criminal Justice – Brentwood, NY/Brentwood HS) connected on all three of her three-point attempts for a season-high nine points off the bench.

Holy Family was led offensively by reserve shooting guard Kim Legen, who scored 11 points in 12 minutes of game action. Maggie Serratelli pitched in with nine points and three players finished with eight.

Senior point guard Teara Shaw (Health Education – Bronx, NY/Indian River State) helped the Firebirds get off to a lightning fast start in the first minute-and-a-half of play. Shaw had a steal and a fast-break layup in the first 15 seconds of action, and she went on to collect two more steals within the first 48 seconds of the game, helping the Firebirds score more points. By the 18:22 mark, UDC was up 10-1 courtesy of a Calhoun layup.

Leading 15-6 exactly two minutes later, Shaw converted another layup and then assisted on a three-pointer by Turner in back-to-back possessions. Turner knocked down another jumper almost a minute later to cap a 7-0 run which gave UDC a commanding 22-6 lead.

The Firebirds grew their lead to as much as 19 in the first half and went into intermission ahead 46-30. UDC was very successful employing a full-court press, forcing 12 HFU turnovers in the first half and cashing them in for 20 points.

Carolyne Heston scored the first points of the second half to bring the Tigers within 14, but a 13-3 Firebirds surge virtually put the game out of reach at the 15:10 mark, as a pair of free-throws by Calhoun made it 59-35. The Firebirds still led 64-40 just past the 11-minute mark, but Holy Family outscored UDC 20-9 over the next 7:20, and pulled as close as 13 on a pair of free-throws by Legen. Holy Family started fouling to preserve the clock, but the Firebirds made 7-of-8 from the line down the stretch while holding the Tigers scoreless for over two minutes to up their lead back to 20. HFU ended the game on a 6-0 run to make the final score, 80-66.

UDC was the much more efficient offensive team, out-shooting the Tigers 47-percent to 35-percent from the field and 39-percent to 29-percent from behind-the-arc, and it had the better assist-to-turnover ratio: 16 assists/17 turnovers compared to 10 assists/17 turnovers. The Firebirds also won the rebounding battle, 42-38, and forced 10 steals and blocked five shots defensively.

Next up, UDC begins its ECC portion of the schedule with a road game in Sparkill, NY vs. St. Thomas Aquinas on Saturday, November 23^rd at 1 p.m.