Firebirds Start Slow, Finish Strong in 75-63 Win at Mercy

DOBBS FERRY, NY – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team dug itself a 7-1 hole three minutes into the game, but all five Firebird starters went on to score in double-figures and lift UDC to its fourth straight win, 75-63, on the road at East Coast Conference foe Mercy on Saturday afternoon.

The Firebirds have now won nine of their last ten games and improved to 15-3 overall and 8-2 in league play. Mercy, which started the season 7-2, has now lost eight straight games to fall to 7-10 overall and 1-9 in the ECC. Today's game marked the closest game in the all-time series between these two ECC foes, with UDC having won all six previous games by an average of 42.6 points, including a 124-55 win the last time these two met.

Senior forward Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) led all Firebird scorers with 17 points while also adding seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Junior forward Tatyana Calhoun (Architecture – Disputanta, VA/Sussex Central HS) also registered 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Without senior point guard Telisha Turner (Criminal Justice – Wilmington, DE/Harcum), the Firebirds employed a point guard-by-committee system where guards Shantrel Oliver, Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore and ShaKena Williams shared point guard responsibilities. All three scored in double-figures, Baldwin-Kollore hauled in seven rebounds, and Oliver and Williams combined for seven assists.

Mercy, which already has more wins this season under 3^rd year head coach Rashidi Aikens than the past three seasons combined, received a tremendous effort from guard Monet Keane-Dawes, who posted game-highs of 23 points and 15 rebounds. Also, forward Tanayzha Augustine filled the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

A three-pointer by Tatiana Parish capped a 7-1 Mavericks run to open the game and later, Augustine's jumper put Mercy in front 11-6 near the 14-minute mark. However, an 8-0 response by the Firebirds, culminating in a layup by Baldwin-Kollore at the 11:43 mark, put the Firebirds in front for good, 14-11.

Still a one-point game (16-15) just past the nine-minute mark, three consecutive layups by UDC gave the Firebirds their largest lead of the first half, 22-15 at the 5:37 mark. Mercy would use an 11-4 run to force a 26-all tie, and then match Brent's jumper with a Keane-Dawes jumper to knot the score 28, but a four-point play by Oliver (three-point field goal and a free-throw) just before the buzzer gave the visitors a 32-28 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Brandone Roberts knocked down a pair of free-throws for the first points of the closing period which brought Mercy within two, 32-30. That was as close as the Mavericks would get the rest of the way, as UDC went on a 13-2 run, kick-started by consecutive made jump shots by Brent, and the Firebirds led 45-32 with 13:47 remaining.

Twice, Mercy closed the gap to seven, including when Deasia Goodson's 1-of-2 trip at the free-throw line made it 50-43 with 9:14 remaining. Still an eight-point game (54-46) at the 8:21 mark, the Firebirds went on a 10-2 surge to take their largest lead of the game, 64-48.

Still the Mavericks would not go away, closing the gap to eight once more after an 11-3 run culminating in a Keane-Dawes three-pointer at the 3:19 mark. Augustine's layup at the 1:05 mark made it an eight-point game once more, but a layup by Calhoun and a pair of free-throws by Brent helped UDC go on to win by a 12-point margin.

The Firebirds out-shot Mercy 42-percent to 35-percent from the field and doubled-up the Mavericks, 36-18 in points in the paint. UDC did, however, struggle from behind-the-arc (3-of-12) and at the free-throw line (12-of-18).Mercy was 5-of-16 from long range and 18-of-24 at the free-throw line.

UDC, despite its long-distance shooting woes, was the much more efficient offense, turning in 17 assists to just 13 turnovers while Mercy had just 13 assists and were forced into 24 turnovers by an aggressive Firebird defense.

Next up, UDC travels to Brookville, NY looking for its first regular season victory at the Pratt Recreation Center as they take on ECC rival LIU Post on Thursday, January 29^th at 5 p.m. The Firebirds will also be looking to sweep the Pioneers for the first time since joining the ECC in 2011.