Firebirds Squander Big First Half Lead in 73-69 ECC Semifinal Loss to NYIT

BROOKVILLE, NY – In what was truly a tale of two halves, the top-seed University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team squandered a 20-point halftime lead in a 73-69 upset loss to No. 4-seeded NYIT in East Coast Conference Semifinal action at host LIU Post on Saturday afternoon.

The loss snaps UDC's 14-game win streak and thwarted the Firebirds (25-4) in their quest to repeat as ECC champions. NYIT, which became the only ECC team to beat UDC twice this season, improved to 20-10 overall and advances to tomorrow's ECC Final to take on the winner of No. 6 St. Thomas Aquinas vs. No. 2 Queens.

The Firebirds, currently ranked No. 23 in the USA Today Division II national poll and No. 3 in the NCAA East Region poll, will find out their seed in the NCAA Division II Tournament tomorrow night with the Selection Sunday announcement on NCAA.com at 10 p.m.

UDC dominated the first half as the Firebirds out-shot NYIT, 54-percent to 26-percent from the field and held a 23-16 rebounding advantage. ECC Honorable Mention Team honoree Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore (Criminal Justice – Newport News, VA/Denbigh HS) shot 5-for-8 from the field (1-of-3 from long range) and led the Firebirds with 11 points while the ECC Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-ECC selection Denikka Brent (Mechanical Engineering – Chespeake, VA/Booker T. Washington HS) registered 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. The Firebirds looked well on their way to a 15^th straight win and 2^nd straight ECC Finals appearance as they led 47-27 at intermission.

The second half, however, was a completely different story. The Bears, looking to avenge a 98-95 triple-overtime loss to UDC the last time these two teams met on January 31^st, very quickly worked their way back into the game as they held the Firebirds without a field goal for nearly the first eight minutes of the closing period. UDC missed its first 10 FG attempts and hastily turned the ball over seven times in that span as NYIT went on a 21-1 run to force a 48-all tie.

Brent temporarily stopped the bleeding with a fast-break layup off of an assist by junior point guard Shantrel Oliver (Criminal Justice – Columbia, MD/Chesapeake CC), but NYIT's Nina Vukosavljevic forced another tie at 50 and later gave the Bears their first lead of the game (51-50) on a 1-of-2 trip at the foul line with 10:09 still to play. NYIT's First Team All-ECC honoree Dina Ragab, who scored 17 of her 21 points and hauled in 10 of her game-high 15 rebounds all in the second half, converted a layup at the 9:37 mark to extend the Bears' lead to 53-50.

Ragab later made consecutive layups at 7:17 and 6:25 to push NYIT's lead to 59-54, and then she made another at the 3:34 mark to give the Bears their largest lead of the game, 65-57.

Still an eight-point lead for NYIT with 1:48 remaining, the Firebirds went on a 7-0 run, highlighted by a three-pointer by Iman Scott (Health Education – Hagerstown, MD/Baltimore City CC). The run culminated in a fast-break layup by Brent which pulled UDC within one, 70-69, with 51 seconds showing on the clock.

On the ensuing Bears' possession, Brent picked Ragab's pocket and was immediately fouled with 19 ticks remaining. On the ensuing inbounds play, the Firebirds put the ball in the hands of Brent, who took a contested jump shot from the foul line that grazed the front of the rim, and was rebounded by Ragab with seven seconds left.

The Bears were then able to play keep-away and run off six more seconds before Scott chased down Vukosavljevic to stop the clock with a foul. Unfortunately for UDC, the officials ruled an intentional foul on the play and awarded NYIT two free-throws and the ball. Vukosavljevic made 1-of-2 at the free-throw line for the intentional foul, and then sealed the victory with a 2-of-2 trip after she was fouled again with less than a second showing on the clock.

In the second half, NYIT out-shot UDC 53-percent to 24-percent from the field and made 10-of-13 free-throws while UDC only took four of which it made two. The Bears held a 24-19 rebounding advantage, out-scored UDC 26-8 in the paint, 16-8 off of turnovers and 15-9 in second-chance points.

UDC was previously 20-0 when leading at halftime, and its 20-point advantage at intermission in this game was its 3^rd largest halftime lead of the season.

The Firebirds, which set a school record for wins this season with 25, will look to win its first NCAA Division II Tournament game since 1989 next week when they earn the program's 7^th all-time tournament bid – 4^th under Head Coach Lester Butler, Jr.