Firebirds Scorch Mavericks For Fifth Straight Win

DOBBS FERRY, NY – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team set a school single-game record for points scored as the Firebirds earned a very one-sided victory on the road over East Coast Conference foe Mercy, 124-55 on Thursday night.

District of Columbia has now won five straight games, improving to 13-3 overall and staying atop the ECC standings with a league record of 9-1. Mercy lost its eighth straight game and fell to 2-16 overall and 1-12 in the conference.

Head coach Lester Butler, Jr. emptied his bench tonight as twelve different Firebirds entered the scoring column, including seven in double-figures. Junior guard ShaKena Williams (Accounting – Washington, D.C./Frederick CC) led all scorers with a season-high 20 points (which included 5-of-8 three-point shooting) while also tying for the game-high with seven assists and grabbing six rebounds. Sophomore guard Shantrel Oliver (History – Columbia, MD/Chesapeake College), making her first start of the season, added a season-high 18 points. Also, forwards Tatyana Calhoun (Environmental Science – Disputanta, VA/Sussex Central HS), Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) and Tiara Goode (Criminal Justice – Brentwood, NY/Brentwood HS) scored 15 apiece and reserve guards Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore (Public Health – Newport News, VA/Denbigh HS) and Myla Somerville (Criminal Justice – Loveville, MD/Saint Mary's Ryken HS) pitched in 13 and 11, respectively.

Not in the line-up tonight for UDC was the 2^nd leading scorer in the conference, junior transfer guard Telisha Turner (Criminal Justice – Wilmington, DE/Harcum). Turner, who is just 11 points away from reaching the 1,000 career points milestone, was given the night off to rest her sore knees for this Saturday's upcoming game at home vs. St. Thomas Aquinas.

Meanwhile, Mercy was led by guard Maria Nardulli's outside shooting (4-of-6 from three-point range) and forward Pam Sosa's interior play (19 points, game-high nine rebounds).

The Firebirds raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first minute-and-a-half of play and they never looked back. The lead continued to grow as UDC out-shot their hosts 60-percent (25-of-42) to 17-percent (5-of-30) and turned 18 first half Mercy miscues into 30 points. District of Columbia ultimately took a 71-19 lead into the intermission.

UDC opened the second half on a 6-0 run and even with all substitutes in the game never seemed to take its foot off the gas pedal, out-scoring Mercy 53-36 in the second half. The Firebird lead ballooned at 74 (124-50) with 1:23 left to play, but the Mavericks closed out the game with the final five points.

The Firebirds will look to complete a season sweep of their ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas when they welcome the Spartans on Saturday, February 1^st at 2 p.m. for Youth Day at UDC Gym.