Firebirds Roll to 7th Straight Victory at Daemen

AMHERST, NY – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team won its 7^th straight game, 86-62 on the road at East Coast Conference foe Daemen Friday night at Lumsden Gymnasium.

The Firebirds, led by the outstanding outside shooting of senior guard ShaKena Williams (Accounting – Washington, DC/Frederick CC) and the interior play of senior forward Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chesapeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) improved to 18-3 overall and 11-2 in league play with tonight's win.

Williams led all scorers with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from long range, and Brent packed the stat sheet with 18 points (8-of-14 FG shooting), six rebounds, five assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Junior guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore (Criminal Justice – Newport News, VA/Denbigh HS) also contributed 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Daemen, which lost its fifth straight and fell to 5-8 in league play (8-11 overall), was led by forward Natalie Galus with team-highs of 17 points and eight rebounds. Also tied for the team-high scoring mark of 17 was guard Sarah Saba, who turned in a team best four assists as well.

The key statistical discrepancy was the Firebirds' superior assist-to-turnover ratio, as the two teams tied with 15 assists, but the UDC defense forced 23 Wildcats turnovers and UDC only turned the ball over 10 times. The Firebirds capitalized on the Daemen mishaps with 28 points off of turnovers.

The Wildcats hung in with the Firebirds early on, matching each UDC basket and forcing three ties within the first five minutes of play, including a 7-7 deadlock at the 15:41 mark. At that point, Baldwin-Kollore started and ended a UDC 10-0 run with a three-pointer and a jumper, respectively, and helped the Firebirds gain a 10-point advantage, 17-7. Still ahead 28-19 past the eight-minute mark, a three-pointer by senior guard Telisha Turner (Criminal Justice – Wilmington, DE/Harcum) kick-started a 7-0 Firebirds surge that gave them their largest lead of the half, 35-19. Daemen ended the half on a 10-4 run, however, and closed to within 10 (39-29) before the halftime horn.

Outscoring their hosts 20-10 in the first 7:17 of the second half courtesy of two Turner three-pointers and another by Williams, UDC took a comfortable 59-39 lead and cruised the rest of the way. The Firebirds led by as many as 26 in the closing period and never let Daemen any closer than 15 as they went on to win by a 24-point margin.

Next, UDC will complete is five-game road stretch with a Sunday afternoon contest at Roberts Wesleyan at 2 p.m.