Panthers Spear Sailfish in Womens Basketball Season Opener 64-55
MELBOURNE, Fla. (women’s basketball) — Florida Tech women’s basketball (1-0) opens up their season on a winning note defeating NCAA Division II south region
opponent Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish (0-1) 64-55 in a tight played game. Despite the one point lead at the half 30-29 the Panthers really needed to
step-up their game in the second period.
The Sailfish came out strong scoring the first two buckets off a Tech turnover. Junior transfer McKena Richardson (Quartz Hill, Cal.) brought it back to a
one point deficit with a three point shot. The game see-sawed back and forth with the score knotting up seven times through-out the first period.
The Sailfish took advantage of a nice run from the 4th minute until around 46 seconds scoring six points to take the lead from the Panthers with 26-29 on
the scoreboard. This would prove to be the last time the blue and white team would push ahead of Tech.
With 41 seconds left in the first half senior Danielle Vaughn (Tallahassee, Fla.) grabbed a key steal to break away for a lay-up to put Tech within one
point again. Richardson hit another jumper after both teams turned the ball over one more time to take the slight lead heading into the locker room.
Head coach John Reynolds must have lit a fire under the team, because coming back out they made their move and never looked back. Senior Jen Tamilio
(Salem, Mass.) started the crimson and gray hit a jumper at 19:14 on the game clock. At one point the Panthers had a 17 point lead with Tamilio hitting two
straight jumpers to propel the hoopsters towards dominating the second period.
The Sailfish chipped away at the lead in final minute bringing it down to nine off a four point conversion by freshman Ashley Adkins (Nacogdoches, Tex.)
hitting a three and calling the foul as well for Palm Beach Atlantic.
The Panthers scored 24 of their points in the paint to the Sailfish 20, while Tech had 21 points to PBA’s 23 points off of turnovers. Tech out hustled the
Sailfish under the boards with 38 rebounds to 29 and grabbing 11 second chance baskets to their opponent’s six for the game.
Tech’s deep bench also proved to be a big advantage for the evening with the crimson and gray hoopsters with Coach Reynolds playing his entire roster. For
the night 36 of the Panthers points came from the bench.
Three Panthers scored in the double figures including junior Kristin Heminger leading all players with 16 points. Tamilio chipped in 14 points and led
under the boards with six rebounds. Vaughn added 10 points. Vaughn and junior Amanda Muns (Chico, Texas) each notched three steals. Muns also had a key
block for the night.
Senior Kristi Harrell (Melbourne, Fla.) had five points, four rebounds, four assists, 1 block and1 steal. Harrell was also prefect from the line.
Junior Nikki Desira (Northville, Mich.) led her team with 14 points, five boards and three steals. Fellow sailfish and junior Marthany Jean-Baptiste also
scored in the double figures with 13 points and six rebounds.
The Panthers will be back in action this weekend traveling south to play in Nova Southeastern’s tip-off tourney opening up with Valdosta on Saturday at
4:00 p.m. Remember fans to listen live and follow the Panthers through out the season check out the new features Florida Tech has to offer in live stats,
audio, and video at home at http://gopanthers.fit.edu/stretch.php. Also don’t forget to sign up for eScores to receive nightly e-mails and text messages on
your cell phones about you favorite Tech teams.
Newspaper Box Score
Palm Beach Atlantic vs Florida Tech
11/15/06 7:00 pm at Melbourne, Fla. (Clemente Center)
At Melbourne, Fla. (Clemente Center)
FLORIDA TECH 64, PALM BEACH ATLANTIC 55
PALM BEACH ATLANTIC (0-1)
DESIRA, Nikki 6-11 2-5 14; JEAN-BAPTISTE, Marth 6-9 1-3 13; PEREZ, Melissa
4-10 0-2 9; ADKINS, Ashley 2-10 4-5 9; EARLS, JaLee 1-6 3-4 5; POWERS, Leigh
Ann 2-2 0-0 4; KELLY, Kim 0-3 1-2 1; ADCOCK, Haley 0-0 0-0 0; POWERS, Sarah
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-52 11-21 55.
FLORIDA TECH (1-0)
HEMINGER, Kristin 6-8 3-4 16; TAMILIO, Jennifer 6-13 1-2 14; VAUGHN,
Danielle 4-6 1-4 10; RICHARDSON, McKena 3-9 0-0 7; HARRELL, Kristi 1-5 2-2
5; MUNS, Amanda 1-3 0-0 3; JONES, Sabrina 0-1 3-4 3; CHASE, Tenisha 1-2 0-0
2; FEQUIERE, Danise 0-1 2-2 2; McCARTNEY, Megan 0-2 2-2 2; GREENE, Lindsay
0-0 0-0 0; CRIMI, Kassi 0-1 0-0 0; JOHNSON, Shante 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-51
14-20 64.
Palm Beach Atlantic……….. 29 26 – 55
Florida Tech……………… 30 34 – 64
3-point goals–Palm Beach Atlantic 2-11 (ADKINS, Ashley 1-5; PEREZ, Melissa
1-4; EARLS, JaLee 0-2), Florida Tech 6-15 (TAMILIO, Jennifer 1-2; MUNS,
Amanda 1-3; HEMINGER, Kristin 1-2; HARRELL, Kristi 1-2; RICHARDSON, McKena
1-3; VAUGHN, Danielle 1-1; McCARTNEY, Megan 0-1; JONES, Sabrina 0-1). Fouled
out–Palm Beach Atlantic-None, Florida Tech-None. Rebounds–Palm Beach
Atlantic 29 (JEAN-BAPTISTE, Marth 6), Florida Tech 38 (TAMILIO, Jennifer 6).
Assists–Palm Beach Atlantic 13 (EARLS, JaLee 3; ADKINS, Ashley 3), Florida
Tech 12 (HARRELL, Kristi 4). Total fouls–Palm Beach Atlantic 19, Florida
Tech 22. Technical fouls–Palm Beach Atlantic-None, Florida Tech-McCARTNEY,
Megan; TEAM. A-317
