Firebirds Win Nail-biter at American International, 58-55

SPRINGFIELD, MA – Telisha Turner's layup with 28 seconds remaining in regulation put the Firebirds ahead to stay, as the University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team won its third straight road game, 58-55 at American International Monday night at Butova Gym.

Ranked No. 5 in the Week 3 D2SIDA East Region poll, UDC disposed of its second straight Northeast-10 opponent to improve to 6-1 and dropped AIC to 2-4 overall.

The Firebirds and Yellow Jackets collided for 10 ties and nine lead changes throughout the game as neither team ever led by more than six points.

Precise shooting, particularly from three-point range, once again helped propel UDC to victory as the Firebirds out-shot AIC, 42-percent (8-of-19) to 23-percent (3-of-13) from behind-the-arc. For the second straight game, graduate guard Bria White (Homeland Security – Silver Spring, MD/UMBC) led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-17 from the field (4-of-8 from three-point range). Turner (Criminal Justice – Wilmington, DE/Harcum) was 3-of-7 from long range and finished with 15 points and a team-high six assists.

AIC edged UDC in the battle of the boards, 33-32, and the Yellow Jackets out-scored UDC in the paint, 34-20. They were led by a great all-around effort by point guard Alyssa Roach, who registered 11 points, 10 assists and six steals. Krista Ferrentino and Sydney Tepley led AIC in rebounding with nine and six, respectively.

Turner led all first half scorers with 13 points at the break to help lead UDC to a one-point halftime advantage, 31-30. The Firebirds out-shot the Yellow Jackets, 43-percent to 34-percent from the field in what was an otherwise, very evenly-played first half with the two teams never separated by more than four points.

The Yellow Jackets scored the first four points once played resumed to take a 34-31 lead almost two minutes into the closing period. UDC countered with an 11-4 run, highlighted by two White three-pointers, and took the largest lead of the night held by either team, 42-36, with 13:15 remaining.

Still leading 44-38, UDC surrendered a 9-0 Yellow Jacket surge, as AIC claimed a 47-44 lead after a Roach layup at the 8:21 mark. The Firebirds fought back with a 5-2 run and evened the score at 49 courtesy of a ShaKena Williams (Accounting – Washington, DC/Frederick CC) three-pointer as the game approached the five-minute mark.

Following a few failed offensive possessions by both teams, AIC pulled back in front, 51-49 on a layup by Ebony Easter at the 3:27 mark. Almost 30 seconds later, junior forward Tatyana Calhoun (Architecture – Disputanta, VA/Sussex Central HS) followed a missed layup by Turner and evened the score once more at 51.

Brent put UDC in front 53-51 with a jumper at the 2:23 mark and later White gave the Firebirds a 55-53 advantage with a jumper at the 1:46 mark, but Ferrentino answered each time with layups to even the score for the 9^th and 10^th time of the night.

On UDC's next possession, Brent's layup rimmed out, but AIC failed to secure the rebound as the ball went out of bounds and stayed with the Firebirds. Again, Brent misfired on a shot at the 58-second mark, but Calhoun was there for her fifth offensive rebound of the game to keep the possession alive. Finally, after taking 30 more seconds off of the clock, Turner drove into the paint and converted a layup to put UDC ahead to stay, 57-55.

The Firebirds forced a missed three-point attempt and caused a turnover during AIC's final two possessions of the game and held on for a three-point victory despite making only 1-of-3 from the line in the final 10 seconds.

UDC now has nine days off before it hosts NYIT in its East Coast Conference season opener on December 10^th at 7 p.m.