Panthers Swabbed the Deck with the Lady Pirates 72-63
MELBOURNE, Fla. (women’s basketball)- The Florida Tech Panthers came out strong and were able to maintain their composure defeating the Armstrong Atlantic
State University Pirates 72-63 in NCAA II women’s basketball action tonight at the Clemente Center. With the win that puts the series knotted again at 6-6
since their first meeting in the 1989-90 season where the Panthers defeated the Pirates at home 67-46, last season the Lady Pirates barely won the game
57-55 in their Alumni Arena.
Senior guard Jen Tamilio (Boston, Mass.) notched her season best with 22 points leading all scorers for the night. Tamilio went a flawless 6-for-6 from the
line, 2-for-3 from the three point perimeter and 7-for-12 from the field.
The Panthers pushed the ball all night finding the land open scoring 41 of their points inside the paint. Defensively the Lady Pirates pulled down more
boards with 36 team rebounds to Tech’s 34 for the match-up.
Tech was able to maintain a steady scoring rally through-out the first half playing tough defense outscoring the Lady Pirates by as much as 18 points with
6:44 left in the first half. Heading into the locker room the Crimson and Gray hoopsters held a strong lead with the scoreboard at 37-to-33 on the board.
With Tamilio already in the double figures putting up 12 points early on.
The Panthers came out in the second half strong pushing the lead to the highest point in the game at 19 points with the scoreboard at 15:50 in the final
period. Junior McKena Richardson (Quartz Hill, Cal.) helped the lead hitting a three point shot at 16:14 and then driving the lane for the 48th point at
the 15:50 mark.
Richardson grabbed her Florida Tech high finishing with 11 points. The Panthers leading scorer Kristin Heminger put up double figures for the seventh
straight game with 12 points and added 5 boards.
Also reaching double digits was senior Danielle Vaughn (Tallahassee, Fla.) with 14 points. Sophomore forward Sabrina Jones (Orlando, Fla.) came off the
bench to lead under the boards with seven rebounds. Senior forward Kristi Harrell (Melbourne, Fla.) pitched in six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Armstrong Atlantic made a significant push in the final ten minutes of the game tying the score at 4:11 at 63-63 after going on a 16 point rampage to put
them back in contention for the first time in the game.
Tamilio’s jumper pushed Tech ahead 63-61 at the three minute mark. The Lady Pirates were fouled and Jasmine Herron (Lawrenceville, Ga.) only took advantage
of one point from the charity stripe to bring the game within one at 3:10 on the clock.
Heminger quickly answered back with a key offensive board and then a lay-up after Richardson was sent to the line and missed both free throws. With two
minutes left, Heminger grabbed another key board to keep the score at 65-62 in Tech’s advantage.
After two more turnovers committed by both teams Vaughn shot a jumper that Harrell backed up and made a behind the backboard reverse lay-up to seal the
deal 67-62 for Florida Tech.
The Lady Pirates began the under a minute fouling game plan and sent Tech to the line six more times with Tamilio making four and Richardson going 1-for-2.
Florida Tech is now 6-1 on the season breaking up Armstrong’s unbeaten streak making them 3-1 on the season. The Panthers will host Eckerd College in the
season opener conference double header on Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. tip-off at the Clemente Center. To follow the game live via video and audio broadcast
check out the Panther website at http://gopanthers.fit.edu
Newspaper Box Score
Armstrong Atlantic vs Florida Tech
11/28/06 5:30 pm at Melbourne, Fla. (Clemente Center)
At Melbourne, Fla. (Clemente Center)
FLORIDA TECH 72, ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC 63
ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC (3-1)
Griffiths, Tana 5-11 0-0 14; Brown, Sarah 4-6 0-0 12; Hornage, Nicole 5-5
0-0 10; Gordon, Kaneetha 3-14 4-10 10; Willis, Lacey 2-2 2-5 6; Herron,
Jasmine 1-5 3-5 5; Thomas, Dartayvia 2-2 0-0 4; Bryant, Ameshia 0-0 2-2 2;
Perpich, Emily 0-1 0-0 0; Mason, Ashley 0-0 0-0 0; Lieneman, Lindsay 0-4 0-0
0; Duhart, Ashley 0-2 0-1 0. Totals 22-52 11-23 63.
FLORIDA TECH (6-1)
TAMILIO, Jennifer 7-12 6-6 22; VAUGHN, Danielle 5-13 3-5 14; HEMINGER,
Kristin 6-11 0-0 12; RICHARDSON, McKena 4-7 2-6 11; HARRELL, Kristi 2-5 0-0
4; CHASE, Tenisha 1-4 1-2 3; CRIMI, Kassi 1-1 1-2 3; FEQUIERE, Danise 1-1
0-0 2; JOHNSON, Shante 0-1 1-2 1; JONES, Sabrina 0-2 0-0 0; MUNS, Amanda 0-0
0-0 0; McCARTNEY, Megan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 14-23 72.
Armstrong Atlantic………… 23 40 – 63
Florida Tech……………… 37 35 – 72
3-point goals–Armstrong Atlantic 8-21 (Griffiths, Tana 4-10; Brown, Sarah
4-6; Gordon, Kaneetha 0-2; Lieneman, Lindsay 0-3), Florida Tech 4-8
(TAMILIO, Jennifer 2-3; VAUGHN, Danielle 1-2; RICHARDSON, McKena 1-1;
HARRELL, Kristi 0-1; HEMINGER, Kristin 0-1). Fouled out–Armstrong
Atlantic-None, Florida Tech-None. Rebounds–Armstrong Atlantic 36 (Gordon,
Kaneetha 11), Florida Tech 34 (JONES, Sabrina 7). Assists–Armstrong
Atlantic 15 (Gordon, Kaneetha 5), Florida Tech 9 (VAUGHN, Danielle 3). Total
fouls–Armstrong Atlantic 16, Florida Tech 23. Technical fouls–Armstrong
Atlantic-None, Florida Tech-None. A-159
