The SCF basketball team (14-4) closed out 2019 with two wins at the Josh Artis Classic as they defeated Palm Beach State (8-8) 94-88 Saturday and Coastal Alabama-North (0-14) 108-85. With the wins, the Manatees are now 2-8 against the Panthers, while going 1-0 in their first matchup against the Eagles.
SCF vs PBSC:
For the game against PBSC, five players scored in double figures with two getting double-doubles. Surprisingly, it was freshman Marshall Kearing that led the Manatees offensively. Kearing finished with a double-double of a season-high 24 points (11-for-12 FG, 2-for-4 FT) and 13 rebounds (11 defensive). The Aussie also added an assist and a block to the mix.
Sophomore D'Moi Hodge finished behind Kearing as the defending NJCAA National Player of the Week had a double-double of 21 points (7-for-14 FG, 3-for-7 3PT, 4-for-5 FT) and 10 assists to go along with six rebounds, while classmate Isiah Dasher had 14 points (6-for-10 FG, 2-for-2 FT), seven assists, two rebounds and two steals.
Freshman Jordan Clark finished with 11 points (3-for-5 FG, 5-for-8 FT), five rebounds, three assists and two steals, while redshirt freshman Jaylen Jones rounded out the order leading off the bench with 12 points (4-for-9 FG, 4-for-8 3PT) and two assists.
Sophomores Max Bell-Ramos (two points and one assist) and Chris Scarborough (one point and one block), redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon (one point, two rebounds and four assists) and freshmen Michael Gavin (eight points and one assist) and Sam Grayson (one assist) also contributed in the Manatee's win.
SCF vs Coastal Alabama-North:
Hodge, who was two assists and four rebounds shy of a triple-double, led the Manatees against the Eagles as he finished with 24 points (10-for-20 FG, 1-for-5 3PT, 3-for-5 FT), six rebounds, eight assists and two steals. Dasher finished with a double-double of 19 points (7-for-13 FG, 1-for-2 3PT, 4-for-5 FT) and 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals. Classmate Remy Robert II rounded out the lineup with 16 points (6-for-9 FG, 4-for-6 3PT) and two rebounds off the bench.
Scarborough and McCutcheon finished with nine points each. Scarborough (3-for-7 FG, 3-for-4 FT), who earned his second start of the season, added five rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal, while McCutcheon (3-for-4 FG, 1-for-1 3PT, 2-for-2 FT) added two rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Kearing (eight points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks), Grayson (six points and two rebounds), Clark (six points, four assists, one rebound and a block), Gavin (five points, three rebounds, three assists and one steal), Jones (four points, two rebounds, four assists and a steal) and Bell-Ramos (two points) all contributed in the win. In fact, all the players that came off the bench scored.
Lone sophomore Shamon Mosley led the Eagles with 22 points and five rebounds. Freshmen Roy Jones III (18 points, six assists and four rebounds), Chris Lett (13 points and four rebounds) and Demetrius Headspeth (10 points and four rebounds) followed Mosley in double digit scoring.
Notes:
Dasher's 30 combined points put him at 804 and needs 196 to become to reach 1,000 career points and the second active Manatee to do so.
Hodge now has 1,059 career points. The double-double against Palm Beach State was his 10th in his career (third this season).
"We kind of break up into three phases," said head coach Tom Parks on 2019. "Obviously, this year was a little funny because our non-conference was everything before Christmas break plus two games. We had our traditional non-conference game that were before Christmas break and then the two games at the Josh Artis Classic helped us workout some kinks and get in shape. We knew both games were going to be ugly on both accounts. Fortunately, we had a lot more guys healthy and eligible than the other two teams and we were able to wear on them, especially with Coastal Alabama in the second game."
"I was really happy with the guys and just the program in general and I think there's a lot of balance this year and what I mean by that is from a staff standpoint," said Parks on his coaching staff. "Rob (Beckmann) is like a mastermind when it comes to the offense and defense, Nav (Gill) is really good at relating to the players, scouting on picking up new players throughout the game and talk to the guys, Lem (Andrews) is the sweetest man alive and would benefit any organization he would be a part of. Even David (Peck), our student assistant, stepped up for us. He set up the whole gym for us and I didn't even ask him to do it. I think not just from a staff standpoint.
Other Suncoast Scores:
#3 Florida Southwestern (16-1) closed out their part of 2019 as they defeated NJCAA Region 4 Oakton Community College (2-12) 99-65 and NJCAA Region 12 Delta College (5-5) 89-75.
RV Polk State (11-3) defeated FSCJ 87-67 before falling to Pensacola State (10-5) by a score of 101-99 in overtime on day two of the JUCO Shootout (December 14-15) to close out their part of 2019. The Eagles will be back in action at the start of 2020 as they welcome #22 Central Florida (14-3) to the Winter Haven Health Center Wednesday afternoon, January 1 at 3 pm before Suncoast play.
St. Pete College (9-8) fell to Gordon State College (2-3) 64-61 Thursday, December 18 before defeating Central Georgia Technical College (7-6) 62-44 and Shelton State (10-3) 69-65 for their final two games of 2019.
Hillsborough (8-7) defeated Gordon State College 83-73 at the Dale Mabry Campus Gym Wednesday night, December 18 for their last home game of 2019. The Hawks will open 2020 remaining at home welcoming Miami Dade (Dec. 3) and Indian River State (Dec. 4) before Suncoast play.
Up Next:
The Manatees will open 2020 for Suncoast play at home as they welcome Polk State Saturday afternoon, January 4 at 4 pm.
About Me
FGCU WBB vs Duke Recap
The duo of Davion Wingate (30) and Nasrin Ulel (27) combined to outscore the entire opposition as the FGCU women's basketball team (13-2) produced a decisive 78-56 win over Duke (7-5) inside Alico Arena on Sunday to conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule.
"We're excited to get a big win over a good team," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought their length and athleticism had us a little out of sorts early. We did a better job of moving the ball and attacking once the second quarter came. I thought the biggest part of the game was the beginning of the third quarter when we came out and made a bunch of plays. Davion went off, hit a bunch of threes, and we did a good job finding her when she was open. It was a great team effort."
In addition to Wingate and Ulel, Ashli O'Neal added 12 points along with a season and game-high four steals as the trio combined for 69 of FGCU's 78 points. Tytionia Adderly had a career-high 10 assists to go along with nine rebounds. O'Neal, who missed the team's win over Temple, returned to register her fourth double-figure scoring output of the season. Her previous season-high in steals was three against Johnson and Wales.
Wingate became the first player in program history to record back-to-back games with at least 30 points. She made 10 field goals for the second consecutive game and increased her 3-point field goal percentage on the season to .507 (37-for-73), which ranks among the top five in the nation.
Meanwhile, Ulel continued a hot stretch that has seen her produce two 20-plus point performances over the past four games. She finished 9-for-14 overall from the field, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range, and is now averaging 17.8 points since Dec. 17.
Duke's Haley Gorecki (19) and Kyra Lambert (10), who combined for 29 points, each made a 3-pointer as the Blue Devils jumped out to 8-3 and 10-6 leads to open the game. Following that hot start, though, FGCU's defense held them to a 1-for-15 finish from 3-point range over the game's final 37 minutes.
Meanwhile, after opening 3-for-15 from the field as a team over the first 10 minutes, FGCU went 18-for-30 combined over the next two quarters as the duo of Ulel and Wingate took over.
Ulel shot 5-for-5 from the field, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range, while scoring 17 of her 20 first-half points in the second quarter alone. O'Neal also scored seven of her 12 points in the frame. Wingate then scored 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting (4-for-7 from 3-point range) in the third quarter to help FGCU stretch a seven-point halftime lead to 17 entering the fourth.
Notes:
FGCU is now 7-10 all-time against the ACC, which signifies their most wins against any Power 5 conference.
Following her nine rebounds, Adderly is now nine shy of becoming the first player in program history, including just the third active NCAA Division I player, to record 1,000 in her career.
Wingate now has 56 career double-digit scoring games, which the most among any player on the roster, and she also tallied her 15th career-game with 20 or more points, which is also a team-best. Impressively, it was also her fifth such performance of the season, including her third with 25 or more.
As a team, the Eagles made 11 3-pointers, which increased their nation-best total to 190. It was the team's 10th game this year with double-digits.
"We're excited to get a big win over a good team," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "I thought their length and athleticism had us a little out of sorts early. We did a better job of moving the ball and attacking once the second quarter came. I thought the biggest part of the game was the beginning of the third quarter when we came out and made a bunch of plays. Davion went off, hit a bunch of threes, and we did a good job finding her when she was open. It was a great team effort."
In addition to Wingate and Ulel, Ashli O'Neal added 12 points along with a season and game-high four steals as the trio combined for 69 of FGCU's 78 points. Tytionia Adderly had a career-high 10 assists to go along with nine rebounds. O'Neal, who missed the team's win over Temple, returned to register her fourth double-figure scoring output of the season. Her previous season-high in steals was three against Johnson and Wales.
Wingate became the first player in program history to record back-to-back games with at least 30 points. She made 10 field goals for the second consecutive game and increased her 3-point field goal percentage on the season to .507 (37-for-73), which ranks among the top five in the nation.
Meanwhile, Ulel continued a hot stretch that has seen her produce two 20-plus point performances over the past four games. She finished 9-for-14 overall from the field, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range, and is now averaging 17.8 points since Dec. 17.
Duke's Haley Gorecki (19) and Kyra Lambert (10), who combined for 29 points, each made a 3-pointer as the Blue Devils jumped out to 8-3 and 10-6 leads to open the game. Following that hot start, though, FGCU's defense held them to a 1-for-15 finish from 3-point range over the game's final 37 minutes.
Meanwhile, after opening 3-for-15 from the field as a team over the first 10 minutes, FGCU went 18-for-30 combined over the next two quarters as the duo of Ulel and Wingate took over.
Ulel shot 5-for-5 from the field, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range, while scoring 17 of her 20 first-half points in the second quarter alone. O'Neal also scored seven of her 12 points in the frame. Wingate then scored 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting (4-for-7 from 3-point range) in the third quarter to help FGCU stretch a seven-point halftime lead to 17 entering the fourth.
Notes:
FGCU is now 7-10 all-time against the ACC, which signifies their most wins against any Power 5 conference.
Following her nine rebounds, Adderly is now nine shy of becoming the first player in program history, including just the third active NCAA Division I player, to record 1,000 in her career.
Wingate now has 56 career double-digit scoring games, which the most among any player on the roster, and she also tallied her 15th career-game with 20 or more points, which is also a team-best. Impressively, it was also her fifth such performance of the season, including her third with 25 or more.
As a team, the Eagles made 11 3-pointers, which increased their nation-best total to 190. It was the team's 10th game this year with double-digits.
Up Next:
The Eagles, who are currently tied with Florida State (13-0) for the most victories in the nation, will open A-SUN play next Saturday at 4 p.m. against Lipscomb in Alico Arena. It was the team's second win over an ACC opponent this year (Notre Dame), and FGCU improved to 2-1 against Power 5 teams on the season.
SCF Softball Readies for JUCO Kickoff
Putting the 2019 season behind, the SCF softball team looks to make 2020 their year as they head to Clearwater to compete in the two-day JUCO Kickoff Classic at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex. On day one, the Manatees will face Northwest Florida State at 10 AM and Pensacola State College at 2:20 PM. On day two, the Manatees will face Palm Beach State at 1:20 PM, Seminole State at 5:40 PM and Central Florida at 7:40 PM.
Initially, the Manatees were scheduled to play Harford Community College from Maryland (NJCAA Region 20) in the JUCO Kickoff Classic, but have pulled out.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees finished last season 45-16 overall with a 16-4 record in the Suncoast. Despite finishing second in the standings to four-time defending Suncoast Regular Season Champions in Florida Southwestern (FSW), the Manatees did host and win the Suncoast Conference Tournament after sweeping Hillsborough to qualify for the FCSAA State Tournament where they went 1-2 and being the fourth team eliminated out of eight teams that participated.
Fun Facts (2012-present):
SCF is 23-9 at the JUCO Kickoff Classic (8-1 against teams not from Florida) and 6-2 in their opening games.
Preseason Polls:
Last season, the Manatees were ranked at #20 in the NJCAA Top 20 National Poll and went as high as #19 in the nation. Currently in the preseason polls, the Manatees are receiving votes in the national polls.
Schuerman's 200th Milestone:
The Manatees are led by head coach Mandy Schuerman, who enters her sixth season as head coach. A former Florida Gator, Schuerman was the 2002 SEC Co-Freshman of the Year and a member of the All-SEC Second Team (2002), Cox Communications Classic All-Tournament Team (2003) and NCAA Regional All-Tournament team (2004) before earning coaching experience with FIU and Presbyterian College.
Prior to her arrival at SCF, Schuerman was head softball coach for Bloomingdale High School where she helped lead them to a 28-3 record and a FHSAA 8A State Championship before accepting the job as head coach for the Manatees.
On January 30, 2015, Schuerman earned her first win with the Manatees against Illinois Central College. Three seasons later, Schuerman earned her 100th win with the Manatees on January 27, 2018 (vs Lake Sumter). Last season, she earned her 150th win in a split against Central Florida (3/2/19).
Currently, Schuerman has an overall record of 177-99 and a 67-30 record in Suncoast play and will be attempting to go for her 200th career win for the Manatees as she needs 23 wins to do so.
Schuerman is joined by longtime assistant coach Michelle Puls, Tony Cummins and student manager Katie Stincer.
Out with the Old (kind of), in with the New:
The Manatees lost six players on their team (five sophomores) with three of them continuing their softball careers, Cheyenne "Shy" Nunez, Haley McFadden and Kailey Christian.
Nunez transferred to play at USC Upstate. The Okeechobee native led the Manatees in stolen bases (38) while batting .360 with a home run and 27 RBI and being named a member of the Suncoast First Team and FCSAA All-State Second Team. In fact, Nunez broke the single season record for most stolen bases on March 27. Nunez will have two years of eligibility remaining upon her arrival with the Spartans.
McFadden will continue playing at Warner University (NAIA). McFadden finished her sophomore campaign batting .313 with two home runs and 31 RBI while being named a member of the All-Suncoast Second Team. McFadden will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Christian decided to transfer as a sophomore to Delaware due to her high academic standings. Christian finished her freshman campaign on the mound with 22-4 record, 2.19 ERA and 196 strikeouts while batting a team-leading .366 with a home run and 36 RBI. Christian was named a member of the All-Suncoast First Team, Suncoast All-Academic Team and the FCSAA All-State Second Team in the end. She will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The returning sophomores on the team are Makayla Benavidez, Madelyn 'Maddy' Graham, Ashlee Zientek and Madi LoCastro.
Makayla Benavidez:
Primarily rotating between being a pinch runner and playing left field, Benavidez finished her freshman campaign batting .356 with 32 hits, six RBI and nine stolen bases. Her best outing with the Manatees was against Abraham Baldwin at the Seminole Tournament where she went 2-for-3 with two RBI and three stolen bases.
Madelyn Graham:
Rotating between catcher, third base, first base and designated player, Graham finished her freshman campaign batting .299 with four home runs and 29 RBI while maintaining a .983 fielding percentage. Graham's best game was against Kalamazoo Valley CC where she went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. In that series, she went 4-for-7 with seven RBI. Graham was named a member of the Suncoast All-Academic Team.
Ashlee Zientek:
One of three pitchers from last season, Zientek finished last season 9-4 with a 3.23 ERA and 76 strikeouts while batting .172 with five RBI. Announced November 14, 2019, Zientek will be transferring to Ursuline College (NCAA DII) with two years of eligibility remaining after her sophomore campaign with SCF. Zientek joined Nunez, Christian, and Graham on the Suncoast All-Academic Team.
Madi LoCastro:
LoCastro was one of two players that would be considered as a hybrid player (the other being Kailey Christian). On the mound, LoCastro went 11-3 with a 2.25 ERA and 50 strikeouts while at the plate she batted .331 with a team-leading seven home runs and 33 RBI, while being named a member of the All-Suncoast Second Team. LoCastro's best game as a pitcher was a 9-2 win Hillsborough (3/12/19) where she threw a complete game with eight strikeouts. As a batter, her best game was the 8-0 win against Santa Fe (2/9/19) where she went 2-for-2 with two home runs and four RBI. In fact, she was one of the only two Manatees with a multi-home run game (the other was former player Lauren Bostwick).
With only four sophomores, Schuerman has enlisted 14 freshman to join the team: Lauren Hutcherson, McKenzie Nix, Emily Hughes, Morgan Weber, Lilly Salazar, Lauren Lightbody, Summer Glenn, Ally Hulme, Kristin Kopp, Kelsi Jeffries, Maddie Koczersut, Madi Schaefer, Samantha Hampton and Carly Bogart.
Side Note: Hughes, Koczersut and Schaefer all came from Lakewood Ranch High School, so in a way, LoCastro, who played with all three players prior to SCF, came with backup.
Scouting NWFS:
The Raiders finished last season 24-26 overall with an 8-11 record in the Panhandle Conference where they fell in the Panhandle Conference Tournament (third place in standings). They are led by Andy Lee, who enters his first season with the Raiders after stints with LSU-Eunice and Hinds Community College.
The Raiders lost eight sophomores, which included their lead home run hitter in Maggie Wheless, who hit 12 home runs and 31 RBI, and stolen base leader in Thalia Vieira da Silva. They also lost Amber Byrd who went 2-1 with one save, a 3.89 ERA and 75 strikeouts.
Key possible returners for the Raiders will include Ashley Autuori and Sydney Byrd. Autouri batted a team-leading .418 batting average with eight home runs and a team-leading 64 RBI, while Byrd batted .310 with seven home runs and 26 RBI.
On the mound, Lauren Rase will be a key returner after finishing her freshman campaign 5-0 with a 4.06 ERA and 22 strikeouts.
Scouting Pensacola:
The Pirates finished last season 28-22 overall with a 7-14 record in the Panhandle Conference. They finished 1-2 in the Panhandle Conference Tournament.
The team will be without their lead home run hitter in Kaeleen Koehler. Koehler led the team with five home runs and 41 RBI.
They will also be without their top pitcher in Shayne O'Connell. O'Connell finished last season 17-8 overall with a 1.87 ERA, two saves and 234 strikeouts.
Scouting PBSC:
The Panthers finished last season 4-46 overall with a 1-19 record in the Southern Conference (last place). This will be the last season of softball for the Panthers as they are dropping their softball program and will instead have a women's soccer team.
Rileigh Manning returns as their main offensive player as she finished with two home runs and 19 RBI.
Scouting Seminole State:
The Raiders finished last season 46-17 overall with a 19-5 record in the Mid-Florida Conference. They would finish as the runner-up in conference before going 1-2 in the FCSAA State Tournament.
The Raiders will be without reigning Mid-Florida Player of the Year Chelsea Peace, who hit 24 home runs and 63 RBI, as well as Gabi LoPresti who went 10-4 overall with two saves, a 4.06 ERA and 37 strikeouts.
Key returners for the Seminoles include Marissa Adame and Samantha Guider. Adame, who was named a member of the Mid-Florida Conference Second Team, finished her freshman campaign with a 17-7 record, one save, a 2.59 ERA and 124 strikeouts. Guider was named to the Mid-Florida Conference First Team after finishing her freshman campaign with a 13-4 record, four saves, a 1.97 ERA and 101 strikeouts.
Scouting CCF:
The Patriots finished last season 58-11 overall with a 23-1 record in the Mid-Florida Conference. Not only did they win the Mid-Florida Regular Season Championship, but they also won the FCSAA State Championship and advance to the NJCAA DI Softball Championship where they went as far as the quarterfinals of the main round before their season ended in the semifinals of the consolation round. The Patriots finished at #3 in the nation.
The team will lose 10 players, which includes their home run hitter in Tiffany Steczo, who hit 28 home runs with 72 RBI. Steczo has transferred to McNeese State to finish her softball career.
Mid-Florida Conference and FCSAA All-State Pitcher of the Year Kelsie Rivers is also departing as she will transfer to South Alabama with three years of eligibility remaining. Rivers finished her freshman campaign with a 25-5 record, one save, 2.94 ERA and 157 strikeouts.
Nina Fernandez has transferred to NCAA DII Nova Southeastern with two years of eligibility remaining. Fernandez finished behind Steczo with 17 home runs and 71 RBI.
Key returners for the Patriots include Barbara Cook and Devyn Howard. Cook finished her freshman campaign with a 21-4 record, one save, a 2.87 ERA and 80 strikeouts.
Cook was named a member of the All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team.
Howard joined Cook as a member of the All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team and was named the FCSAA All-Tournament Team MVP. Howard finished with 10 home runs and 56 RBI.
Series History (2012-present):
The Manatees have their histories with NWFS, Pensacola State, Palm Beach State, Seminole and CCF.
Against NWFS, the series is split at 1-1 overall. The first time both teams met was in the first round of the 2012 FCSAA State Tournament where the Manatees won 4-0. NWFS returned the favor at the 2017 FCSAA State Tournament where they won 3-2.
The Manatees hold a 1-1 split with Pensacola. The first time was on March 14, 2018 where the Pirates won 9-4. The Manatees return the favor coincidentally at the JUCO Kickoff Classic last season where they won 6-2.
Against PBSC, the Manatees hold an astonishing 18-1 overall series record. The Manatees swept the Panthers last season winning by scores of 8-0 (mercy rule) and 3-2 (eight innings). The Panthers lone win was on March 15, 2014 where they won 7-6 in eight innings.
The Manatees are 7-12 against Seminole State. Last time both teams met was during the 2018 season where the Manatees claimed a 2-1 series winning (W: 1-0 1/27/18, 4-2 2/3/18, L: 5-3 2/3/18).
The grudging rivalry remains in the favor of the Patriots as the Manatees are 13-18 overall. Last season, the Manatees claimed the overall series 3-2 both home, away and on neutral grounds (W: 1/25 6-5, 3/2 6-0, 4/25 10-6; L: 3/2 5-3, 4/25 9-5).
Initially, the Manatees were scheduled to play Harford Community College from Maryland (NJCAA Region 20) in the JUCO Kickoff Classic, but have pulled out.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees finished last season 45-16 overall with a 16-4 record in the Suncoast. Despite finishing second in the standings to four-time defending Suncoast Regular Season Champions in Florida Southwestern (FSW), the Manatees did host and win the Suncoast Conference Tournament after sweeping Hillsborough to qualify for the FCSAA State Tournament where they went 1-2 and being the fourth team eliminated out of eight teams that participated.
Fun Facts (2012-present):
SCF is 23-9 at the JUCO Kickoff Classic (8-1 against teams not from Florida) and 6-2 in their opening games.
Preseason Polls:
Last season, the Manatees were ranked at #20 in the NJCAA Top 20 National Poll and went as high as #19 in the nation. Currently in the preseason polls, the Manatees are receiving votes in the national polls.
Schuerman's 200th Milestone:
The Manatees are led by head coach Mandy Schuerman, who enters her sixth season as head coach. A former Florida Gator, Schuerman was the 2002 SEC Co-Freshman of the Year and a member of the All-SEC Second Team (2002), Cox Communications Classic All-Tournament Team (2003) and NCAA Regional All-Tournament team (2004) before earning coaching experience with FIU and Presbyterian College.
Prior to her arrival at SCF, Schuerman was head softball coach for Bloomingdale High School where she helped lead them to a 28-3 record and a FHSAA 8A State Championship before accepting the job as head coach for the Manatees.
On January 30, 2015, Schuerman earned her first win with the Manatees against Illinois Central College. Three seasons later, Schuerman earned her 100th win with the Manatees on January 27, 2018 (vs Lake Sumter). Last season, she earned her 150th win in a split against Central Florida (3/2/19).
Currently, Schuerman has an overall record of 177-99 and a 67-30 record in Suncoast play and will be attempting to go for her 200th career win for the Manatees as she needs 23 wins to do so.
Schuerman is joined by longtime assistant coach Michelle Puls, Tony Cummins and student manager Katie Stincer.
Out with the Old (kind of), in with the New:
The Manatees lost six players on their team (five sophomores) with three of them continuing their softball careers, Cheyenne "Shy" Nunez, Haley McFadden and Kailey Christian.
Nunez transferred to play at USC Upstate. The Okeechobee native led the Manatees in stolen bases (38) while batting .360 with a home run and 27 RBI and being named a member of the Suncoast First Team and FCSAA All-State Second Team. In fact, Nunez broke the single season record for most stolen bases on March 27. Nunez will have two years of eligibility remaining upon her arrival with the Spartans.
McFadden will continue playing at Warner University (NAIA). McFadden finished her sophomore campaign batting .313 with two home runs and 31 RBI while being named a member of the All-Suncoast Second Team. McFadden will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Christian decided to transfer as a sophomore to Delaware due to her high academic standings. Christian finished her freshman campaign on the mound with 22-4 record, 2.19 ERA and 196 strikeouts while batting a team-leading .366 with a home run and 36 RBI. Christian was named a member of the All-Suncoast First Team, Suncoast All-Academic Team and the FCSAA All-State Second Team in the end. She will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The returning sophomores on the team are Makayla Benavidez, Madelyn 'Maddy' Graham, Ashlee Zientek and Madi LoCastro.
Makayla Benavidez:
Primarily rotating between being a pinch runner and playing left field, Benavidez finished her freshman campaign batting .356 with 32 hits, six RBI and nine stolen bases. Her best outing with the Manatees was against Abraham Baldwin at the Seminole Tournament where she went 2-for-3 with two RBI and three stolen bases.
Madelyn Graham:
Rotating between catcher, third base, first base and designated player, Graham finished her freshman campaign batting .299 with four home runs and 29 RBI while maintaining a .983 fielding percentage. Graham's best game was against Kalamazoo Valley CC where she went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI. In that series, she went 4-for-7 with seven RBI. Graham was named a member of the Suncoast All-Academic Team.
Ashlee Zientek:
One of three pitchers from last season, Zientek finished last season 9-4 with a 3.23 ERA and 76 strikeouts while batting .172 with five RBI. Announced November 14, 2019, Zientek will be transferring to Ursuline College (NCAA DII) with two years of eligibility remaining after her sophomore campaign with SCF. Zientek joined Nunez, Christian, and Graham on the Suncoast All-Academic Team.
Madi LoCastro:
LoCastro was one of two players that would be considered as a hybrid player (the other being Kailey Christian). On the mound, LoCastro went 11-3 with a 2.25 ERA and 50 strikeouts while at the plate she batted .331 with a team-leading seven home runs and 33 RBI, while being named a member of the All-Suncoast Second Team. LoCastro's best game as a pitcher was a 9-2 win Hillsborough (3/12/19) where she threw a complete game with eight strikeouts. As a batter, her best game was the 8-0 win against Santa Fe (2/9/19) where she went 2-for-2 with two home runs and four RBI. In fact, she was one of the only two Manatees with a multi-home run game (the other was former player Lauren Bostwick).
With only four sophomores, Schuerman has enlisted 14 freshman to join the team: Lauren Hutcherson, McKenzie Nix, Emily Hughes, Morgan Weber, Lilly Salazar, Lauren Lightbody, Summer Glenn, Ally Hulme, Kristin Kopp, Kelsi Jeffries, Maddie Koczersut, Madi Schaefer, Samantha Hampton and Carly Bogart.
Side Note: Hughes, Koczersut and Schaefer all came from Lakewood Ranch High School, so in a way, LoCastro, who played with all three players prior to SCF, came with backup.
Scouting NWFS:
The Raiders finished last season 24-26 overall with an 8-11 record in the Panhandle Conference where they fell in the Panhandle Conference Tournament (third place in standings). They are led by Andy Lee, who enters his first season with the Raiders after stints with LSU-Eunice and Hinds Community College.
The Raiders lost eight sophomores, which included their lead home run hitter in Maggie Wheless, who hit 12 home runs and 31 RBI, and stolen base leader in Thalia Vieira da Silva. They also lost Amber Byrd who went 2-1 with one save, a 3.89 ERA and 75 strikeouts.
Key possible returners for the Raiders will include Ashley Autuori and Sydney Byrd. Autouri batted a team-leading .418 batting average with eight home runs and a team-leading 64 RBI, while Byrd batted .310 with seven home runs and 26 RBI.
On the mound, Lauren Rase will be a key returner after finishing her freshman campaign 5-0 with a 4.06 ERA and 22 strikeouts.
Scouting Pensacola:
The Pirates finished last season 28-22 overall with a 7-14 record in the Panhandle Conference. They finished 1-2 in the Panhandle Conference Tournament.
The team will be without their lead home run hitter in Kaeleen Koehler. Koehler led the team with five home runs and 41 RBI.
They will also be without their top pitcher in Shayne O'Connell. O'Connell finished last season 17-8 overall with a 1.87 ERA, two saves and 234 strikeouts.
Scouting PBSC:
The Panthers finished last season 4-46 overall with a 1-19 record in the Southern Conference (last place). This will be the last season of softball for the Panthers as they are dropping their softball program and will instead have a women's soccer team.
Rileigh Manning returns as their main offensive player as she finished with two home runs and 19 RBI.
Scouting Seminole State:
The Raiders finished last season 46-17 overall with a 19-5 record in the Mid-Florida Conference. They would finish as the runner-up in conference before going 1-2 in the FCSAA State Tournament.
The Raiders will be without reigning Mid-Florida Player of the Year Chelsea Peace, who hit 24 home runs and 63 RBI, as well as Gabi LoPresti who went 10-4 overall with two saves, a 4.06 ERA and 37 strikeouts.
Key returners for the Seminoles include Marissa Adame and Samantha Guider. Adame, who was named a member of the Mid-Florida Conference Second Team, finished her freshman campaign with a 17-7 record, one save, a 2.59 ERA and 124 strikeouts. Guider was named to the Mid-Florida Conference First Team after finishing her freshman campaign with a 13-4 record, four saves, a 1.97 ERA and 101 strikeouts.
Scouting CCF:
The Patriots finished last season 58-11 overall with a 23-1 record in the Mid-Florida Conference. Not only did they win the Mid-Florida Regular Season Championship, but they also won the FCSAA State Championship and advance to the NJCAA DI Softball Championship where they went as far as the quarterfinals of the main round before their season ended in the semifinals of the consolation round. The Patriots finished at #3 in the nation.
The team will lose 10 players, which includes their home run hitter in Tiffany Steczo, who hit 28 home runs with 72 RBI. Steczo has transferred to McNeese State to finish her softball career.
Mid-Florida Conference and FCSAA All-State Pitcher of the Year Kelsie Rivers is also departing as she will transfer to South Alabama with three years of eligibility remaining. Rivers finished her freshman campaign with a 25-5 record, one save, 2.94 ERA and 157 strikeouts.
Nina Fernandez has transferred to NCAA DII Nova Southeastern with two years of eligibility remaining. Fernandez finished behind Steczo with 17 home runs and 71 RBI.
Key returners for the Patriots include Barbara Cook and Devyn Howard. Cook finished her freshman campaign with a 21-4 record, one save, a 2.87 ERA and 80 strikeouts.
Cook was named a member of the All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team.
Howard joined Cook as a member of the All-Mid-Florida Conference First Team and was named the FCSAA All-Tournament Team MVP. Howard finished with 10 home runs and 56 RBI.
Series History (2012-present):
The Manatees have their histories with NWFS, Pensacola State, Palm Beach State, Seminole and CCF.
Against NWFS, the series is split at 1-1 overall. The first time both teams met was in the first round of the 2012 FCSAA State Tournament where the Manatees won 4-0. NWFS returned the favor at the 2017 FCSAA State Tournament where they won 3-2.
The Manatees hold a 1-1 split with Pensacola. The first time was on March 14, 2018 where the Pirates won 9-4. The Manatees return the favor coincidentally at the JUCO Kickoff Classic last season where they won 6-2.
Against PBSC, the Manatees hold an astonishing 18-1 overall series record. The Manatees swept the Panthers last season winning by scores of 8-0 (mercy rule) and 3-2 (eight innings). The Panthers lone win was on March 15, 2014 where they won 7-6 in eight innings.
The Manatees are 7-12 against Seminole State. Last time both teams met was during the 2018 season where the Manatees claimed a 2-1 series winning (W: 1-0 1/27/18, 4-2 2/3/18, L: 5-3 2/3/18).
The grudging rivalry remains in the favor of the Patriots as the Manatees are 13-18 overall. Last season, the Manatees claimed the overall series 3-2 both home, away and on neutral grounds (W: 1/25 6-5, 3/2 6-0, 4/25 10-6; L: 3/2 5-3, 4/25 9-5).
How to Keep Up:
Fans can keep up to date with all five teams on Twitter:
SCF: @SCFSoftball
NWFS:@NWFSoftball
Pensacola: @PSCSoftball
Palm Beach State: @PBSCPanthers
Seminole: @SeminoleStateSB
CCF: @CFPats
SCF: @SCFSoftball
NWFS:@NWFSoftball
Pensacola: @PSCSoftball
Palm Beach State: @PBSCPanthers
Seminole: @SeminoleStateSB
CCF: @CFPats
FGCU WBB vs Duke Preview
The FGCU women's basketball team (12-2), which is currently tied with Florida State and South Carolina for the most wins in the nation, will conclude its non-conference slate against one of the most recognizable names in collegiate athletics when the Eagles square off against Duke (7-4) at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The Green and Blue, who are looking to avenge last year's 57-41 loss to the Blue Devils, are coming off one of the team's best performances of the season with a 93-67 win over Temple on the road. In that game, Davion Wingate registered a career-high 31 points and joined Keri Jewett-Giles (35 points vs LSU) as the first set of FGCU teammates to combine for back-to-back 30-point performances in program history.
Wingate finished 10-for-15 from the field, including 6-for-8 from long distance, while making all five of her foul shots in topping her previous career-high of 29 set earlier this year against UCF.
Jewett-Giles added 20 points against Temple to conclude a week that saw her average 23 points, five assists, 3.7 rebounds and 3.3 rebounds over three games. In doing so, she was selected as the A-SUN player of the week for the fifth time in her career, which ties her with Sarah Hansen for the second-most such awards in program history behind Whitney Knight (7).
Previewing Duke:
The Blue Devils are coming off an 89-46 loss to No. 5 South Carolina on the road Dec. 19. Sophomore Miela Goodchild, who is close to becoming the quickest player in Duke women's basketball history to reach 100 career 3-pointers, led the team with 11 points as the Blue Devils were hurt by a season-high 30 turnovers that led to 41 points for the Gamecocks.
Duke's four losses, aside from South Carolina, have come against Texas A&M (79-58 on Nov. 10), Northwestern (63-42 on Nov. 17) and Nebraska (83-79 on Dec. 4).
Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280889
Livestream Link: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=8c604002-15a9-416f-840e-e81b41f4bcdf
Audio Livestream: https://goduke.com/watch/?Archive=2140&type=Archive
The Green and Blue, who are looking to avenge last year's 57-41 loss to the Blue Devils, are coming off one of the team's best performances of the season with a 93-67 win over Temple on the road. In that game, Davion Wingate registered a career-high 31 points and joined Keri Jewett-Giles (35 points vs LSU) as the first set of FGCU teammates to combine for back-to-back 30-point performances in program history.
Wingate finished 10-for-15 from the field, including 6-for-8 from long distance, while making all five of her foul shots in topping her previous career-high of 29 set earlier this year against UCF.
Jewett-Giles added 20 points against Temple to conclude a week that saw her average 23 points, five assists, 3.7 rebounds and 3.3 rebounds over three games. In doing so, she was selected as the A-SUN player of the week for the fifth time in her career, which ties her with Sarah Hansen for the second-most such awards in program history behind Whitney Knight (7).
Previewing Duke:
The Blue Devils are coming off an 89-46 loss to No. 5 South Carolina on the road Dec. 19. Sophomore Miela Goodchild, who is close to becoming the quickest player in Duke women's basketball history to reach 100 career 3-pointers, led the team with 11 points as the Blue Devils were hurt by a season-high 30 turnovers that led to 41 points for the Gamecocks.
Duke's four losses, aside from South Carolina, have come against Texas A&M (79-58 on Nov. 10), Northwestern (63-42 on Nov. 17) and Nebraska (83-79 on Dec. 4).
Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280889
Livestream Link: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=8c604002-15a9-416f-840e-e81b41f4bcdf
Audio Livestream: https://goduke.com/watch/?Archive=2140&type=Archive
FGCU MBB @ USC Preview
Coming off a seven-day break for the holidays, the FGCU men's basketball team (3-11) closes out its non-conference slate with a cross-country trip to Southern California (10-2) on Sunday night (7 PM PT/10 PM ET). The match-up against the Trojans and former Eagles head coach Andy Enfield will be available via the PAC-12 Network.
FGCU picked up an 84-62 win over St. Thomas prior to a seven-day break between games for the holidays. The win snapped a six-game losing skid for the Eagles and improved FGCU to 3-5 this season at Alico Arena. Three players reached double-figures in the win paced by 19 from sophomore Zach Scott. Junior Jalen Warren had 16 points along with six rebounds and four assists, while sophomore Caleb Catto added 15 points.
Of the Eagles' 11 loses this season, a total of five have been decided by six-or-fewer points (1-4) for FGCU - reflective of a mostly new roster.
As a team, the Eagles rank among the top three in the A-SUN for 12 different statistical categories. FGCU leads the league in total steals (95), steals per game (6.8), total blocked shots (65), and blocked shots per game (4.6). Defensively, the Eagles rank third in the A-SUN in points allowed per game (69.5), but have struggled offensively with 61.1 points per outing which ranks seventh in the league.
Individually, Scott leads the league in total steals (26), Warren ranks third in total assists (46), freshman Dakota Rivers leads the league in total blocks (22), and junior Justus Rainwater ranks seventh in total rebounds (94).
Scott continues to lead the Eagles offensively, averaging 12.4 points per game. He has contributed double-digit points in all but five games. He is followed closely by Catto (10.4 ppg) and Warren (9.2 ppg). The trio has combined for 448 points, over half of the team's 856 total this year.
Warren and Catto have also done a great job of sharing the rock. Warren leads the team with 46 assists, while Catto has contributed 36.
Opponents have had a hard time shooting over Rainwater and Rivers, as the duo has combined for 42 blocks this year. Rivers is averaging 1.57 blocks per game, the 12th-most of any freshman in the nation.
Scouting USC:
USC enters the game with a 10-2 overall record including four consecutive wins and a 5-1 home record. The only home loss of the year came against Temple (70-61) on Nov. 22. A trio of Trojans are averaging double-figures led by Onyeka Okongwu's 17.7 points per game. Jonah Matthews is second on the team at 12.6 per night, while Nick Rakocevic is averaging 12.0 points. Okongwu also leads USC in rebounding with 9.0 boards per game.
This will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools with USC visiting Alico Arena next season. It will also mark the first time the Eagles have faced their former bench boss Andy Enfield who led FGCU to the magical Sweet Sixteen run of 2013. Enfield, who has close ties to current head coach Michael Fly and assistant coach Joey Cantens, finished his two seasons in Fort Myers with a 41-28 overall record.
Livestats Link: https://usctrojans.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Livestream Link: https://pac-12.com/live
FGCU WBB @ Temple Recap
The FGCU women's basketball team (12-2) bounced back from their home loss to LSU as they defeated Temple University (6-6) 93-67 in their first ever matchup at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
"We played a very good first half," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We moved the ball well and passed it to open teammates who were ready to shoot. Offensively, Keri and Davion were outstanding, and I am also happy with the contributions of Emma and Erna off the bench. Defensively, Nasrin, Ty and Kerstie set the tone."
Four Eagles scored in double figures. It was redshirt senior Davion Wingate that led the Eagles as she finished with a career-high 31 points (10-for-15 FG, 6-for-8 3PT, 5-for-5 FT), two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Classmate Keri Jewett-Giles followed with 20 points (8-for-18, 2-for-5 3PT, 2-for-4 FT), four rebounds, a season-high nine assists and two steals.
Senior Nasrin Ulel added 16 points (6-for-15 FG, 3-for-11 3PT, 1-for-1 FT), four rebounds and two assists, while redshirt junior Kerstie Phills rounded out the lineup with 11 points (3-for-8 FG, 3-for-6 3PT, 2-for-2 FT), four rebounds and four assists.
Senior Tytionia Adderly had maybe the most complete all-around performance with six points, nine rebounds, six steals and two assists. Redshirt junior Erna Normil had three points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal in a season-high 21 minutes off the bench as the Eagles lineup was without the services of redshirt senior Ashli O'Neal, redshirt sophomore Tyra Cox, redshirt junior Chandler Ryan and junior Alyssa Blair.
The Green and Blue got off to a bit of a slow start offensively by scoring just five points over the first four minutes. Wingate, though, made her first of six 3-pointers with 5:24 left in to give FGCU a lead they wouldn't relinquish as they finished 6-for-15 from long distance in the first 10 minutes alone and opened up a 26-14 lead behind an 8-2 run to finish the quarter.
Following that, Wingate scored five points during a 13-2 run to open the second quarter. Redshirt sophomore Emma List capped the run with a pull-up 3-pointer to give FGCU a 39-19 lead with 5:24 left in the half.
After Temple ended that run, Normil capped a 9-2 run as the Eagles eventually led by 23 at the break.
Over the first five minutes of the second half, Temple was able to trim its deficit by six to 17, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Jewett-Giles calmed things down. In fact, Jewett-Giles finished the third quarter with a layup in the final seconds to give the Eagles a 22-point advantage.
A 13-2 run to open the fourth, capped by a 3-pointer from Ulel, signaled the end for most of FGCU's starters. Wingate made all three free throws with 5:32 left after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt to eclipse the 30-point plateau and exited following the final make as the Eagles slowed every possession following that.
Sophomore Marissa Mackins led the Owls with 19 points, while junior Mia Davis finished with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds. In fact, Davis became the
Notes:
With her nine rebounds, Adderly pushed her career total to 982, which is 18 shy of allowing her to become just the 12th player in A-SUN history to reach the 1,000 milestone - including the first such player in FGCU history. She is also now 14 defensive rebounds shy of surpassing Whitney Knight (621, 2011-16) for the most in program history.
With her 20 points, Jewett-Giles (1,146) passed Stephanie Haas (1,138, 2012-16) for the ninth-most NCAA points scored by a player to wear the Green and Blue. Wingate, meanwhile, now has 1,113 and passed China Dow (1,093, 2013-18) for 11th place on the same list.
FGCU is now 4-0 against American Athletic Conference (AAC) teams this year with wins over USF, UCF, Houston and now Temple - all of which were picked to finish among the top six in the AAC preseason poll.
Up Next:
FGCU will be back in action against Duke (7-4) on Dec. 29 at 2 p.m. inside Alico Arena.
"We played a very good first half," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We moved the ball well and passed it to open teammates who were ready to shoot. Offensively, Keri and Davion were outstanding, and I am also happy with the contributions of Emma and Erna off the bench. Defensively, Nasrin, Ty and Kerstie set the tone."
Four Eagles scored in double figures. It was redshirt senior Davion Wingate that led the Eagles as she finished with a career-high 31 points (10-for-15 FG, 6-for-8 3PT, 5-for-5 FT), two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Classmate Keri Jewett-Giles followed with 20 points (8-for-18, 2-for-5 3PT, 2-for-4 FT), four rebounds, a season-high nine assists and two steals.
Senior Nasrin Ulel added 16 points (6-for-15 FG, 3-for-11 3PT, 1-for-1 FT), four rebounds and two assists, while redshirt junior Kerstie Phills rounded out the lineup with 11 points (3-for-8 FG, 3-for-6 3PT, 2-for-2 FT), four rebounds and four assists.
Senior Tytionia Adderly had maybe the most complete all-around performance with six points, nine rebounds, six steals and two assists. Redshirt junior Erna Normil had three points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal in a season-high 21 minutes off the bench as the Eagles lineup was without the services of redshirt senior Ashli O'Neal, redshirt sophomore Tyra Cox, redshirt junior Chandler Ryan and junior Alyssa Blair.
The Green and Blue got off to a bit of a slow start offensively by scoring just five points over the first four minutes. Wingate, though, made her first of six 3-pointers with 5:24 left in to give FGCU a lead they wouldn't relinquish as they finished 6-for-15 from long distance in the first 10 minutes alone and opened up a 26-14 lead behind an 8-2 run to finish the quarter.
Following that, Wingate scored five points during a 13-2 run to open the second quarter. Redshirt sophomore Emma List capped the run with a pull-up 3-pointer to give FGCU a 39-19 lead with 5:24 left in the half.
After Temple ended that run, Normil capped a 9-2 run as the Eagles eventually led by 23 at the break.
Over the first five minutes of the second half, Temple was able to trim its deficit by six to 17, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Jewett-Giles calmed things down. In fact, Jewett-Giles finished the third quarter with a layup in the final seconds to give the Eagles a 22-point advantage.
A 13-2 run to open the fourth, capped by a 3-pointer from Ulel, signaled the end for most of FGCU's starters. Wingate made all three free throws with 5:32 left after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt to eclipse the 30-point plateau and exited following the final make as the Eagles slowed every possession following that.
Sophomore Marissa Mackins led the Owls with 19 points, while junior Mia Davis finished with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds. In fact, Davis became the
Notes:
With her nine rebounds, Adderly pushed her career total to 982, which is 18 shy of allowing her to become just the 12th player in A-SUN history to reach the 1,000 milestone - including the first such player in FGCU history. She is also now 14 defensive rebounds shy of surpassing Whitney Knight (621, 2011-16) for the most in program history.
With her 20 points, Jewett-Giles (1,146) passed Stephanie Haas (1,138, 2012-16) for the ninth-most NCAA points scored by a player to wear the Green and Blue. Wingate, meanwhile, now has 1,113 and passed China Dow (1,093, 2013-18) for 11th place on the same list.
FGCU is now 4-0 against American Athletic Conference (AAC) teams this year with wins over USF, UCF, Houston and now Temple - all of which were picked to finish among the top six in the AAC preseason poll.
Up Next:
FGCU will be back in action against Duke (7-4) on Dec. 29 at 2 p.m. inside Alico Arena.
FGCU MBB vs St. Thomas Recap
A 27-to-2 first half run led to the most points in a half this season as the FGCU men's basketball team went into its holiday break with an 84-62 win over St. Thomas on Saturday night at Alico Arena. The 52 points scored by the Eagles in the first half were the most for any half this season.
FGCU (3-11) will break for seven days before playing at Southern California on Dec. 29 (10 PM ET). The game will be available on the PAC-12 Network.
"A win is always good to get, especially after our recent stretch, and it is definitely encouraging to see the ball go through the net the way it was tonight," said head coach Michael Fly. "I thought we did a good job responding to how St. Thomas started the game. Before the game we talked about getting to the foul line - something that hasn't been happening as much recently. We got to the line 26 times tonight which I think shows us being aggressive around the rim."
Sophomore Zach Scott, junior Jalen Warren, and sophomore Caleb Catto led the Eagles with a combined 50 points. Scott scored a team-high 19 points, while Warren added 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Junior Brian Thomas had seven points in his first home game of the year.
Justin Brown led St. Thomas (8-3) with a game-high 24 points while Ahmad Gilbert added 16 points.
After St. Thomas scored the first seven points of the game, the Eagles went on a 27-to-2 run over a nine minute stretch to go up 27-9 at the 7:40 mark. FGCU played stifling defense holding the Bobcats to 0-of-14 from the floor in that stretch while the Eagles hit 10-of-17 shots.
The Eagles closed the first half with a 9-to-1 run taking a 52-19 lead into the intermission. Scott led FGCU with 15 points in the opening half while Warren had 13 along with five rebounds and three assists.
Overall for the game, FGCU hit 29-of-60 field goals while the Bobcats went 20-of-61 from the floor. The Eagles held a 43-to-26 rebounding advantage which led to a 12-to-5 edge in second chance points. FGCU had a season high 21 assists.
SCF Tennis Releases Spring Schedule
The SCF tennis team will put 2019 in the past and ready for the 2020 regular spring season with a whole new squad.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees finished last season 6-7 overall with a 4-6 record in Region 8. They would end up finishing fourth in the standings. Despite not winning the NJCAA Region 8 Tennis Tournament, the Manatees were able to qualify for the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas as one of two teams with an at-large bid. In fact, the Manatees were actually ranked #5 in the NJCAA National Polls. At nationals, the Manatees finished tied for fifth place with Cowley College out of 32 teams, winning one consolation doubles tournament.
The Manatees are led by current head coach Chloe Murphy, who enters her third year as head coach.
In with the New, Out with the Old:
The team lost five players, Sara and Zeba Jamal, Diarra Thomas, Camille "Cami" Portalier and Laura Illanes-Rodriguez as they have all transferred to different universities. Sara Jamal (Jacksonville University), Thomas (Coppin State), Portalier (NCAA DII: West Georgia) and Illanes-Rodriguez (USC Upstate) have all transferred as juniors, while Zeba Jamal (Presbyterian College) was the only freshman that transferred as a sophomore. Furthermore, Illanes-Rodriguez was the only player on the team to win an award for SCF as she claimed the Vicki Schnurr Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
For this season, there are four returners, Sara Ramirez-Goncalves, Britain "Brie" Botsford, Mackenzie Vraspir and Alexis Booker. Vraspir and Booker redshirted last season with Vraspir playing in exhibition matches, while Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford were the lone returners that played last season.
Ramirez-Goncalves finished last season 13-4 in singles and 9-10 in doubles primarily teaming with Sara Jamal. The native of Cancun, Mexico played at #3 singles and went as far as the semifinals in the national tournament.
Botsford finished 8-10 at #5 singles and 10-8 at #3 doubles pairing primarily with Thomas. Botsford went as far as the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles at nationals.
Murphy was also able to land five true freshmen: Allie Beck, Karla Menendez, Olivia Sabo, Martina Shakhnazorova and Holly Sheeran-Hall.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees finished last season 6-7 overall with a 4-6 record in Region 8. They would end up finishing fourth in the standings. Despite not winning the NJCAA Region 8 Tennis Tournament, the Manatees were able to qualify for the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas as one of two teams with an at-large bid. In fact, the Manatees were actually ranked #5 in the NJCAA National Polls. At nationals, the Manatees finished tied for fifth place with Cowley College out of 32 teams, winning one consolation doubles tournament.
The Manatees are led by current head coach Chloe Murphy, who enters her third year as head coach.
In with the New, Out with the Old:
The team lost five players, Sara and Zeba Jamal, Diarra Thomas, Camille "Cami" Portalier and Laura Illanes-Rodriguez as they have all transferred to different universities. Sara Jamal (Jacksonville University), Thomas (Coppin State), Portalier (NCAA DII: West Georgia) and Illanes-Rodriguez (USC Upstate) have all transferred as juniors, while Zeba Jamal (Presbyterian College) was the only freshman that transferred as a sophomore. Furthermore, Illanes-Rodriguez was the only player on the team to win an award for SCF as she claimed the Vicki Schnurr Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
For this season, there are four returners, Sara Ramirez-Goncalves, Britain "Brie" Botsford, Mackenzie Vraspir and Alexis Booker. Vraspir and Booker redshirted last season with Vraspir playing in exhibition matches, while Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford were the lone returners that played last season.
Ramirez-Goncalves finished last season 13-4 in singles and 9-10 in doubles primarily teaming with Sara Jamal. The native of Cancun, Mexico played at #3 singles and went as far as the semifinals in the national tournament.
Botsford finished 8-10 at #5 singles and 10-8 at #3 doubles pairing primarily with Thomas. Botsford went as far as the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles at nationals.
Murphy was also able to land five true freshmen: Allie Beck, Karla Menendez, Olivia Sabo, Martina Shakhnazorova and Holly Sheeran-Hall.
The Manatees will have their opening match in January as they have their home opener against NAIA Southeastern University (1/30) to start the season.
After a home scrimmage against Rollins College (NCAA DII), they will then have their first road match against the University of Tampa (NCAA DII) (2/6).
The Manatees will then play back-to-back home matches opening Region 8 Conference play against the defending Region 8 Regular Season Champions in ASA Miami for their conference opener before facing USCAA Florida National (2/13).
The Manatees will then have three straight road matches for conference play against St. Pete College (2/19), Hillsborough (2/21) and Eastern Florida State (2/28).
After a home scrimmage against Rollins College (NCAA DII), they will then have their first road match against the University of Tampa (NCAA DII) (2/6).
The Manatees will then play back-to-back home matches opening Region 8 Conference play against the defending Region 8 Regular Season Champions in ASA Miami for their conference opener before facing USCAA Florida National (2/13).
The Manatees will then have three straight road matches for conference play against St. Pete College (2/19), Hillsborough (2/21) and Eastern Florida State (2/28).
March 27 will be the last home matchup against Eastern Florida State and will be dubbed as sophomore day for Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford before their season finale on the road against Broward College. From there, the Manatees will travel to Sanlando for the NJCAA Region 8 State Tournament (4/17-19) before trying to Tucson, Arizona for the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament (5/3-8).
SCF Closes 2019 at Josh Artis Classic
The SCF basketball team (12-4) will close out 2019 with one final two-day tournament on neutral grounds as they will compete in the Josh Artis Classic Friday and Saturday afternoon, December 28-29 at the Titan Field House in Melbourne, hosted by Eastern Florida State. The Manatees will face Palm Beach State (8-7) and Coastal Alabama-North (0-12) but will not face EFSC (9-6). The game against PBSC will be at 4 pm and the game against CA-North will be at 3 pm.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees competed in their second to last two-day tournament last weekend as they compete in the Florida College's Men's Basketball Shootout in Ocala where they defeated ASA Miami 107-101 and Florida State College at Jacksonville 75-72.
Moving in the Ranks:
While they have not received votes in the NJCAA National Polls, the Manatees reached the Top 10 in the NJCAA Region 8 Polls, beginning at number 10. This week, the Manatees moved up two spots as they are tied at #8 with Northwest Florida State.
Reaching 1,000:
Sophomore D'Moi Hodge did his unthinkable at the JUCO Shootout as he reached 1,000 career points during the game against FSCJ and now has 1,014 in his career. It was a feat last accomplished by James Life, who had a total of 1,341 career points with the Manatees (then Lancers, 2004-05).
An upcoming transfer to Cleveland State, Hodge is averaging 27.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. Hodge had 41 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, five steals and two blocks against ASA Miami and 19 points, six rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block against FSCJ.
At the end of the tournament, Hodge was named NJCAA Region 8 Player of the Week for the fifth time this season as well as the NJCAA National Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Following Along:
Aside from Hodge, classmate Isiah Dasher is also on path of reaching 1,000 career points himself as he has 771 career points and needs 229 more to become the second active Manatee to reach 1,000 career points this season. Dasher is averaging 16.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. At the JUCO Shootout, Dasher was held to a season-low seven points while adding five rebounds and four assists against ASA Miami before scoring 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Aside from Hodge and Dasher, freshmen Jordan Clark, Marshall Kearing and redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon continue to blaze the path to back up the Manatees.
Despite being held to three points and an assist against FSCJ, Clark is averaging 13.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Clark did have a season-high 27 points and eight rebounds against ASA Miami.
Kearing is averaging 10.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Kearing had a season-high 20 points and four rebounds against ASA Miami and 12 points, three rebounds and one block against FSCJ.
McCutcheon is averaging 5.6 points and 4.1 assists per game, which included a season-high 10 assists against ASA Miami to go along with six points before going scoreless against FSCJ while adding four assists.
The Baton Rouge Hero:
Sophomore Remy Robert II has been a hero for the Manatees in quite a few games, not just as a 3-point specialist but as a strong defender too. Averaging 3.7 points per game, Robert had six points against FSCJ that were both 3-pointers in which one of them was the game-winner.
Wild Cards:
Redshirt freshman Jaylen Jones, sophomores Chris Scarborough and Max Bell-Ramos and freshmen Sam Grayson and Michael Gavin continue their strong roles as wild cards on the team.
Jones is averaging 5.1 points per game. Jones had four points and two rebounds against ASA Miami and 11 points and two rebounds against FSCJ.
Scarborough is averaging 3.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, while Bell-Ramos averages 4.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Scarborough had one rebound in the JUCO Shootout against ASA Miami, while Bell-Ramos had two points and two rebounds against FSCJ.
Grayson averages 4.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. At the JUCO Shootout, Grayson had two points and three rebounds against ASA Miami and six points and one rebound against FSCJ
Gavin is averaging 5.5 points per game with a .395 3-point percentage. Gavin had one rebound in the game against ASA Miami.
Scouting PBSC:
The Panthers recently competed in the same JUCO shootout with SCF this past weekend losing both games to #5 FSW (76-52) and RV Central Florida (86-59).
Five players on the Panthers are averaging over 12 points. Sophomore Nick Edwards leads the pack averaging 15.6 points and 5.6 assists per game. Edwards was held to nine points and four assists before scoring 18 points and adding eight assists.
Redshirt sophomore Tim Holland follows averaging a double of 13.9 points and 11 rebounds per game along with 2.6 blocks per game. Holland had six points, 15 rebounds and three blocks against FSW but was held scoreless and with one rebound against CCF.
Redshirt sophomore Emanuel Hylton averages 12.4 points and five rebounds per game, despite playing only eight games so far. Hylton had
Sophomores Donald Green and Mohamed Fofana follow averaging 12.9 and 11.9 points and per game respectively. Green averages 6.2 rebounds per game, while Fofana averages 5.9 rebounds per game. Green had nine points and four rebounds against FSW and 12 points and four rebounds against CCF, while Fofana had 12 points and five rebounds against FSW before being held to two points and five rebounds against CCF.
As noted in the season opening preview, the Panthers have nine transfers on their team, Edwards (Northwest Mississippi), Hylton (San Diego), Green (Chattanooga State), Fofana (Butler CC), Holland (Temple College), and sophomores Phillip Smith (FIU), David Begic (Maine), Shawn Cornelious (Blinn College) and Matthew Allman (Richard Bland College).
Scouting Coastal Alabama-North:
Coastal Alabama-North represents NJCAA Region 22 (Alabama Community College Conference) and are located in Monroeville, Alabama. The team is led by head coach William Brown.
The Eagles are coming off of competing against Northwestern Florida State losing by a score of 79-54. It was the third time they faced NWFS and will face them one more time on their schedule (Dec. 31) at the Gulf Coast Classic. In fact, the Eagles 12 straight losses were all against Florida teams.
Freshman Roy Jones III leads the team averaging 13.5 points, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals, while classmate Jarrett Taylor averages 10.5 points and two assists per game.
Their lone sophomore, Shamon Mosley, is averaging 10 points and a team-leading 7.3 rebounds per game.
Series History (2012-present):
While this will be the first time the Manatees play Coastal Alabama-North, they are currently 1-8 overall against the Panthers. The Manatees earned their first win against the Panthers in their season opener winning by a score of 96-86. The Panthers last win over the Manatees was on November 22, 2017 where they won 80-73 at Hal Chasey Gymnasium.
How to Keep Up:
Fans can keep up to date with all three teams on Twitter:
SCF- @SCF_Basketball
PBSC- @PBSCPanthers
Coastal Alabama-North: @CoastalEagles
Last Time Out:
The Manatees competed in their second to last two-day tournament last weekend as they compete in the Florida College's Men's Basketball Shootout in Ocala where they defeated ASA Miami 107-101 and Florida State College at Jacksonville 75-72.
Moving in the Ranks:
While they have not received votes in the NJCAA National Polls, the Manatees reached the Top 10 in the NJCAA Region 8 Polls, beginning at number 10. This week, the Manatees moved up two spots as they are tied at #8 with Northwest Florida State.
Reaching 1,000:
Sophomore D'Moi Hodge did his unthinkable at the JUCO Shootout as he reached 1,000 career points during the game against FSCJ and now has 1,014 in his career. It was a feat last accomplished by James Life, who had a total of 1,341 career points with the Manatees (then Lancers, 2004-05).
An upcoming transfer to Cleveland State, Hodge is averaging 27.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. Hodge had 41 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, five steals and two blocks against ASA Miami and 19 points, six rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block against FSCJ.
At the end of the tournament, Hodge was named NJCAA Region 8 Player of the Week for the fifth time this season as well as the NJCAA National Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Following Along:
Aside from Hodge, classmate Isiah Dasher is also on path of reaching 1,000 career points himself as he has 771 career points and needs 229 more to become the second active Manatee to reach 1,000 career points this season. Dasher is averaging 16.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. At the JUCO Shootout, Dasher was held to a season-low seven points while adding five rebounds and four assists against ASA Miami before scoring 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Aside from Hodge and Dasher, freshmen Jordan Clark, Marshall Kearing and redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon continue to blaze the path to back up the Manatees.
Despite being held to three points and an assist against FSCJ, Clark is averaging 13.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Clark did have a season-high 27 points and eight rebounds against ASA Miami.
Kearing is averaging 10.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Kearing had a season-high 20 points and four rebounds against ASA Miami and 12 points, three rebounds and one block against FSCJ.
McCutcheon is averaging 5.6 points and 4.1 assists per game, which included a season-high 10 assists against ASA Miami to go along with six points before going scoreless against FSCJ while adding four assists.
The Baton Rouge Hero:
Sophomore Remy Robert II has been a hero for the Manatees in quite a few games, not just as a 3-point specialist but as a strong defender too. Averaging 3.7 points per game, Robert had six points against FSCJ that were both 3-pointers in which one of them was the game-winner.
Wild Cards:
Redshirt freshman Jaylen Jones, sophomores Chris Scarborough and Max Bell-Ramos and freshmen Sam Grayson and Michael Gavin continue their strong roles as wild cards on the team.
Jones is averaging 5.1 points per game. Jones had four points and two rebounds against ASA Miami and 11 points and two rebounds against FSCJ.
Scarborough is averaging 3.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, while Bell-Ramos averages 4.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Scarborough had one rebound in the JUCO Shootout against ASA Miami, while Bell-Ramos had two points and two rebounds against FSCJ.
Grayson averages 4.3 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. At the JUCO Shootout, Grayson had two points and three rebounds against ASA Miami and six points and one rebound against FSCJ
Gavin is averaging 5.5 points per game with a .395 3-point percentage. Gavin had one rebound in the game against ASA Miami.
Scouting PBSC:
The Panthers recently competed in the same JUCO shootout with SCF this past weekend losing both games to #5 FSW (76-52) and RV Central Florida (86-59).
Five players on the Panthers are averaging over 12 points. Sophomore Nick Edwards leads the pack averaging 15.6 points and 5.6 assists per game. Edwards was held to nine points and four assists before scoring 18 points and adding eight assists.
Redshirt sophomore Tim Holland follows averaging a double of 13.9 points and 11 rebounds per game along with 2.6 blocks per game. Holland had six points, 15 rebounds and three blocks against FSW but was held scoreless and with one rebound against CCF.
Redshirt sophomore Emanuel Hylton averages 12.4 points and five rebounds per game, despite playing only eight games so far. Hylton had
Sophomores Donald Green and Mohamed Fofana follow averaging 12.9 and 11.9 points and per game respectively. Green averages 6.2 rebounds per game, while Fofana averages 5.9 rebounds per game. Green had nine points and four rebounds against FSW and 12 points and four rebounds against CCF, while Fofana had 12 points and five rebounds against FSW before being held to two points and five rebounds against CCF.
As noted in the season opening preview, the Panthers have nine transfers on their team, Edwards (Northwest Mississippi), Hylton (San Diego), Green (Chattanooga State), Fofana (Butler CC), Holland (Temple College), and sophomores Phillip Smith (FIU), David Begic (Maine), Shawn Cornelious (Blinn College) and Matthew Allman (Richard Bland College).
Scouting Coastal Alabama-North:
Coastal Alabama-North represents NJCAA Region 22 (Alabama Community College Conference) and are located in Monroeville, Alabama. The team is led by head coach William Brown.
The Eagles are coming off of competing against Northwestern Florida State losing by a score of 79-54. It was the third time they faced NWFS and will face them one more time on their schedule (Dec. 31) at the Gulf Coast Classic. In fact, the Eagles 12 straight losses were all against Florida teams.
Freshman Roy Jones III leads the team averaging 13.5 points, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals, while classmate Jarrett Taylor averages 10.5 points and two assists per game.
Their lone sophomore, Shamon Mosley, is averaging 10 points and a team-leading 7.3 rebounds per game.
Series History (2012-present):
While this will be the first time the Manatees play Coastal Alabama-North, they are currently 1-8 overall against the Panthers. The Manatees earned their first win against the Panthers in their season opener winning by a score of 96-86. The Panthers last win over the Manatees was on November 22, 2017 where they won 80-73 at Hal Chasey Gymnasium.
How to Keep Up:
Fans can keep up to date with all three teams on Twitter:
SCF- @SCF_Basketball
PBSC- @PBSCPanthers
Coastal Alabama-North: @CoastalEagles
FGCU WBB vs Central Connecticut State Recap
Senior Nasrin Ulel poured in a game-high 23 points to lead four in double-figures as the FGCU women's basketball team (11-1) routed Central Connecticut State 94-60 inside Alico Arena on Tuesday.
With the victory, FGCU has won eight straight overall as well as 16 in a row in Alico Arena, which is the fourth-longest home streak in the nation. The Eagles are now set up for a home showdown with LSU (8-2) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
"I thought Central Connecticut State came out really strong in the first quarter," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "They executed well offensively, and we made some defensive mistakes. Fortunately, we forced some turnovers in the second quarter and were able to turn them into some points. I thought Nasrin (Ulel) and (Kerstie) Phills gave us a big lift, especially in that second quarter, and that helped us get some separation. Fortunately, we were able to extend the lead at the start of the third quarter, which allowed us to get everyone in the game."
Ulel matched her season-highs in points (23) and field goals made (9) while adding four assists. It was the fifth career 20 plus point effort of her career and her second of the season (Nov. 29 vs USF).
Meanwhile, the trio of redshirt seniors Davion Wingate (15) and Keri Jewett-Giles (14) and redshirt junior Kerstie Phills (14) combined for 43 points.
Wingate was an efficient 7-for-10 from the field, while Jewett-Giles had a season-high six steals along with three rebounds.
For Phills, she set a new scoring-high while wearing the Green and Blue and matched her season-high in rebounds. She finished a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, grabbed three of her rebounds on the offensive glass and is averaging 13.5 points and eight rebounds over the past two games.
Senior Tytionia Adderly produced another solid all-around performance. She shot 3-for-4 from the field and finished with seven points, seven rebounds, a team-high five assists and a steal.
Early on, FGCU struggled to pull away from the winless Blue Devils, who trailed the Eagles by just four through the first 10 minutes. They even held three leads early, but Wingate hit a driving layup in the final 30 seconds, and redshirt senior Ashli O'Neal drew a charge on the next possession and made 1-for-2 at the foul line with 0.4 seconds left to give FGCU a four-point lead.
The Green and Blue led by six with 6:09 left in the half, but a 13-3 run that was started and capped by a jumper and a 3-pointer from Phills pushed the margin to 44-28 with 2:10 remaining. Following a pair of free throws from CCSU's Ashley Forker, Ulel scored five straight points and Phills hit a driving layup to beat the buzzer and cap a 7-0 run to close the half and give FGCU a 21-point lead at the break.
FGCU continued the surge by scoring 15 of the next 20 points to open the second half, opening up a 66-35 lead with 4:31 left following a layup from Ulel. An old-fashioned 3-point play from sophomore Tanner Bryant gave the Eagles their largest lead, 37, with 5:27 left in the game.
Other contributors in the win included: redshirt sophomore Emma List, who made all five of her free throw attempts en route to seven points and Bryant, who had seven points in eight minutes off the bench. Junior Sheahen Dowling had three assists in 12 minutes off the bench.
Defensively, FGCU held CCSU to a 2-for-12 finish from 3-point range. They also forced 19 turnovers, scored 23 going the other way and contributed 56 points in the paint, including 13 of the second-chance variety.
Notes
Prior to the game, the trio of Ulel, Wingate and Jewett-Giles were honored for recently eclipsing 1,000 career NCAA points. The Eagles are one of only three schools nationally with three such players, joining Oregon (4) and James Madison (3).
With the victory, FGCU has won eight straight overall as well as 16 in a row in Alico Arena, which is the fourth-longest home streak in the nation. The Eagles are now set up for a home showdown with LSU (8-2) on Thursday at 7 p.m.
"I thought Central Connecticut State came out really strong in the first quarter," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "They executed well offensively, and we made some defensive mistakes. Fortunately, we forced some turnovers in the second quarter and were able to turn them into some points. I thought Nasrin (Ulel) and (Kerstie) Phills gave us a big lift, especially in that second quarter, and that helped us get some separation. Fortunately, we were able to extend the lead at the start of the third quarter, which allowed us to get everyone in the game."
Ulel matched her season-highs in points (23) and field goals made (9) while adding four assists. It was the fifth career 20 plus point effort of her career and her second of the season (Nov. 29 vs USF).
Meanwhile, the trio of redshirt seniors Davion Wingate (15) and Keri Jewett-Giles (14) and redshirt junior Kerstie Phills (14) combined for 43 points.
Wingate was an efficient 7-for-10 from the field, while Jewett-Giles had a season-high six steals along with three rebounds.
For Phills, she set a new scoring-high while wearing the Green and Blue and matched her season-high in rebounds. She finished a perfect 6-for-6 from the field, grabbed three of her rebounds on the offensive glass and is averaging 13.5 points and eight rebounds over the past two games.
Senior Tytionia Adderly produced another solid all-around performance. She shot 3-for-4 from the field and finished with seven points, seven rebounds, a team-high five assists and a steal.
Early on, FGCU struggled to pull away from the winless Blue Devils, who trailed the Eagles by just four through the first 10 minutes. They even held three leads early, but Wingate hit a driving layup in the final 30 seconds, and redshirt senior Ashli O'Neal drew a charge on the next possession and made 1-for-2 at the foul line with 0.4 seconds left to give FGCU a four-point lead.
The Green and Blue led by six with 6:09 left in the half, but a 13-3 run that was started and capped by a jumper and a 3-pointer from Phills pushed the margin to 44-28 with 2:10 remaining. Following a pair of free throws from CCSU's Ashley Forker, Ulel scored five straight points and Phills hit a driving layup to beat the buzzer and cap a 7-0 run to close the half and give FGCU a 21-point lead at the break.
FGCU continued the surge by scoring 15 of the next 20 points to open the second half, opening up a 66-35 lead with 4:31 left following a layup from Ulel. An old-fashioned 3-point play from sophomore Tanner Bryant gave the Eagles their largest lead, 37, with 5:27 left in the game.
Other contributors in the win included: redshirt sophomore Emma List, who made all five of her free throw attempts en route to seven points and Bryant, who had seven points in eight minutes off the bench. Junior Sheahen Dowling had three assists in 12 minutes off the bench.
Defensively, FGCU held CCSU to a 2-for-12 finish from 3-point range. They also forced 19 turnovers, scored 23 going the other way and contributed 56 points in the paint, including 13 of the second-chance variety.
Notes
Prior to the game, the trio of Ulel, Wingate and Jewett-Giles were honored for recently eclipsing 1,000 career NCAA points. The Eagles are one of only three schools nationally with three such players, joining Oregon (4) and James Madison (3).
SRG + SCF = WIN
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| PC: NJCAA |
For the SCF tennis team, each player has a different story on how they've grown up around holding a racket in their hands. On the team there are nine players on the team, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. On the last feature story, I did on sophomore Brie Botsford, but now I will choose to do my next feature story on another one of the other SCF tennis team's other returning true sophomore: Sara Ramirez-Goncalves.
Ramirez-Goncalves is a native of Cancun, Mexico that holds citizenship there and in Portugal. Like Botsford, Ramirez-Goncalves began her career at a young age with a legacy and a difficult choice of a sport to stick with.
"When I was younger, I went through a phase were I just wanted to try every sport there was," said Ramirez-Goncalves. "I wanted to find something that I truly enjoyed and after going from one sport to another, when I was 10 years old, I got into tennis. As soon as I started playing, I loved it. I knew that it was the sport that I wanted to play and, in the future, compete. My dad used to play tennis when he was younger and he had participated in state, regional and national tournaments, which somehow also made me want to try it."
While she did continue to play tennis at a competitive level, Ramirez-Goncalves had to battle through many grueling injuries that tried to plague her from continuing to play the sport she loved.
"I had a multiple fracture on my right-foot which according to the doctors required immediate surgery," said Ramirez-Goncalves on battling her injuries. "After that I was not supposed to be playing tennis again at all. As soon as I heard this, I knew that I had to find an alternative. Therefore, I spent 6 months in a cast and other 6 months in rehabilitation in order to fully recover. After this happened, I am more careful and aware of my physical, mental and emotional health. There is nothing more important than your personal well-being."
Ramirez-Goncalves continued to push herself carefully at a competitive level and competed in several International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments that helped her get a good enough ranking for her recruiting process for colleges and universities. Ramirez-Goncalves eventually did receive a couple of offers from other colleges and universities, but turned them down because they did not fully convince her to enroll there and then made the move to enroll at SCF.
"I chose SCF because after talking to coach (Chloe) Murphy and getting to know her coaching philosophy and goals I truly believed it was the best option for me."
Upon her arrival to SCF, the first person to give Ramirez-Goncalves a "welcome to SCF" warm welcome was then sophomore Laura Illanes-Rodriguez, in which they had a special bond even prior to SCF as they both played in the same national and international tournaments in Mexico since 2016. In fact, Ramirez-Goncalves and Illanes-Rodriguez were very close than anyone can expect as well as then sophomore Camille "Cami" Portalier. She also gain a strong and close friendship with freshman Karla Menendez as they are both roommates.
"They were the closest with me without a doubt," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her friendships. "I consider both my best friends, and even after they transferred our friendship remains and I know they will always be there for me."
Illanes-Rodriguez ended up transferring to South Carolina Upstate, while Portalier transferred to the University of West Georgia (NCAA DII), but the trio continued to keep their bond strong no matter how distant they are from each other. Aside from Illanes-Rodriguez and Portalier, Ramirez-Goncalves was able to warm up to all of her teammates with positive mixed emotions.
"I was very excited, nervous and happy at the same time to meet all my new teammates, because I wanted to give a good first impression and truly hoped we could become good friends and get along inside and outside the court."
Ramirez-Goncalves continued to feel more welcome at SCF, but when the spring season went underway, she was destined to make a good impression for coach Murphy in her first match against NAIA Southeastern University.
"My first match at SCF was the first match coach Murphy was going to watch me compete," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her first spring match. "I remember I was feeling nervous and excited, because I was finally going to be able to compete after a long time and I also wanted to give a good impression on my performance."
Upon her first match against Southeastern and beginning of the season, Ramirez was placed at #2 doubles and paired up with Portalier while competing at #1 singles before transitioning to #3 singles and #1 doubles for the remainder of the season. Ramirez-Goncalves ended up winning her first doubles match of the spring with Portalier winning by a score of 8-0 against Angelique Myrtil and Gabby Marshall 8-0 at #2 doubles before securing the match point by defeating Sharian Ricardo 6-1, 6-2 at #1 singles.
Yet one of her talked about matches was against St. Pete College (SPC) in which she had a tough going against her opponent in which the Manatees won by a score of 5-4 thanks to her clinching the final point.
"I was playing against an Italian girl called Babi (Barbara Damiani)," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her most talked about match. "That match was the decisive match for the win. The feeling of clinching and getting the win for the team was one of the most exciting and satisfying moments of the season."
While tennis continues to be Ramirez-Goncalves' passion, she does like to do one thing outside of tennis.
"I love going to the beach and watch the sunset," said Ramirez-Goncalves. "I think that the sound of the waves is so relaxing, and at the same time the colors and the view are beautiful."
Even in her most memorable moments, Ramirez-Goncalves reminisces on going to the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas when athletic trainer Kylee Bernthisel and assistant athletic director Loretta DeMonte joined the team, which she said was more enjoyable to have them there to support them.
At the end of the regular season, Ramirez-Goncalves would earn a spot on the Suncoast Conference All-Academic Team before heading to states and reaching as far as the semifinals. After SCF earned an at-large bid to compete in the national tournament as the #5 team in the nation. Ramirez would earn a first-round bye as the #4 seed at the NJCAA Flight 3 Singles and went as far as the semifinals before falling to ASA Miami's Irina Lapustina.
Ramirez-Goncalves ended up finishing her freshman campaign 13-4 in dual singles action and 8-10 in doubles action with Jamal. The Manatees would end up finishing tied for 5th place in the tournament. Ramirez-Goncalves does plan to continue with her tennis career whether as a player or as a coach.
Ramirez-Goncalves ended up finishing her freshman campaign 13-4 in dual singles action and 8-10 in doubles action with Jamal. The Manatees would end up finishing tied for 5th place in the tournament. Ramirez-Goncalves does plan to continue with her tennis career whether as a player or as a coach.
"After SCF my plan is to transfer to a NCAA Division 1 University where I will be able to continue playing tennis collegiately and get my bachelor's degree," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her future. "Tennis is my passion. Therefore, it seems difficult to picture myself not playing at all. If that was the case, there is no doubt that I would still like to involve myself into the tennis industry. I would love to apply for an assistant coach position in a college or university, or for a position to work in management of the USTA (United States Tennis Association), WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) or ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)."
While she does look forward to where her future lies, Ramirez-Goncalves can still focus on preparing for the 2020 spring season and hopefully another trip to the national tournament.
Hodge's 1,000th Point Helps 2nd Herd Sweeps in Ocala
History was made for the SCF basketball team (12-4) as they pulled away with two big wins at the two-day Florida Men's College Basketball JUCO Shootout by defeating ASA Miami (4-10) 107-101 on day one before defeating Florida State College at Jacksonville (4-9) 75-72 on day teo. With the wins, the Manatees are now 3-1 against the Silver Storm and 7-4 against the Blue Wave.
"Two wins are a great outcome," said head coach Tom Parks. "Not that we played awesome, but the outcome was phenomenal going into Christmas break and finishing our first semester 12-4 with two wins in the JUCO Shootout after going 0-2 last year and I'll take that anytime."
"Some of the turnarounds were still really building on what we're doing offensively and defensively," Parks continued. "We're scratching the surface with a lot of base concepts while going out there to play without having a practice games. We're 16 games in with over half of the regular season done. We're really scratching the surface, yet there are times when we don't execute on both sides of the floor and we're great at defending but there are times when we don't finish plays, so we're still trying to put things together. I really liked our effort especially when games after Christmas break are hard to win and we're trying to keep the guys focused so it was great that we can be focused to come out with a couple of wins."
SCF vs ASA Miami:
"Two wins are a great outcome," said head coach Tom Parks. "Not that we played awesome, but the outcome was phenomenal going into Christmas break and finishing our first semester 12-4 with two wins in the JUCO Shootout after going 0-2 last year and I'll take that anytime."
"Some of the turnarounds were still really building on what we're doing offensively and defensively," Parks continued. "We're scratching the surface with a lot of base concepts while going out there to play without having a practice games. We're 16 games in with over half of the regular season done. We're really scratching the surface, yet there are times when we don't execute on both sides of the floor and we're great at defending but there are times when we don't finish plays, so we're still trying to put things together. I really liked our effort especially when games after Christmas break are hard to win and we're trying to keep the guys focused so it was great that we can be focused to come out with a couple of wins."
SCF vs ASA Miami:
Offensively it was sophomore D’Moi Hodge, despite being two rebounds and three assists shy of a triple-double, that led the Manatees offense with 41 points (15-for-21 FG, 4-for-10 3PT, 7-for-9 FT), eight rebounds, seven assists, five steals and two blocks.
Freshman Jordan Clark was two rebounds shy of a double-double as he finished with 27 points (9-for-15 FG, 4-for-5 3PT, 5-for-6 FT), eight rebounds, an assist and two steals, while classmate Marshal Kearing finished with a season-high 20 points (8-for-9 FG, 4-for-6 FT), four rebounds, an assist and three steals.
Redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon led the team with 10 assists to go along with six points (1-for-5 FG, 4-for-5 FT), five rebounds and two steals, while sophomore Isiah Dasher finished with a season-low seven points (3-for-11 FG, 1-for-3 FT), but added five rebounds and four assists.
Redshirt freshman Jaylen Jones (four points, two rebounds and one assist), freshmen Sam Grayson (two points and three rebounds) and Michael Gavin (one rebound) and sophomores Chris Scarborough (one rebound) and Remy Robert II (one assist and one steal) also contributed in the game. Jones and Grayson were the only two players off the bench that scored.
"Sam and Jaylen finished really strong finished strong off the bench," said Parks on Grayson and Jones. "They haven't played a majority of the season and I wanted to give them some more minutes because they've done really well with us."
For the Silver Storm, six players reached double digit figures in scoring. Freshman Jean-Karlo Iciano Rivera led the way with 18 points and two rebounds off the bench, while sophomore Kareem Lightbourne and freshman Darian Hercule had 15 points each. Lightbourne added two rebounds and three assists, while Hercule added seven rebounds and a block.
Freshman Jordan Clark was two rebounds shy of a double-double as he finished with 27 points (9-for-15 FG, 4-for-5 3PT, 5-for-6 FT), eight rebounds, an assist and two steals, while classmate Marshal Kearing finished with a season-high 20 points (8-for-9 FG, 4-for-6 FT), four rebounds, an assist and three steals.
Redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon led the team with 10 assists to go along with six points (1-for-5 FG, 4-for-5 FT), five rebounds and two steals, while sophomore Isiah Dasher finished with a season-low seven points (3-for-11 FG, 1-for-3 FT), but added five rebounds and four assists.
Redshirt freshman Jaylen Jones (four points, two rebounds and one assist), freshmen Sam Grayson (two points and three rebounds) and Michael Gavin (one rebound) and sophomores Chris Scarborough (one rebound) and Remy Robert II (one assist and one steal) also contributed in the game. Jones and Grayson were the only two players off the bench that scored.
"Sam and Jaylen finished really strong finished strong off the bench," said Parks on Grayson and Jones. "They haven't played a majority of the season and I wanted to give them some more minutes because they've done really well with us."
For the Silver Storm, six players reached double digit figures in scoring. Freshman Jean-Karlo Iciano Rivera led the way with 18 points and two rebounds off the bench, while sophomore Kareem Lightbourne and freshman Darian Hercule had 15 points each. Lightbourne added two rebounds and three assists, while Hercule added seven rebounds and a block.
Redshirt sophomore Marquez Smith and sophomores Jonathan Vilchez and Sebastian Jean each had 11 points. Smith added four rebounds and three assists, Vilchez added four rebounds and Jean added five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
SCF vs FSCJ:
Four Manatees finished in double digit scoring, yet it was once again Hodge that led the Manatees as he finished with 19 points (7-for-19 FG, 2-for-7 3PT, 3-for-6 FT), six rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block. Dasher finished behind Hodge with 16 points (5-for-10 FG, 6-for-6 FT), four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
SCF vs FSCJ:
Four Manatees finished in double digit scoring, yet it was once again Hodge that led the Manatees as he finished with 19 points (7-for-19 FG, 2-for-7 3PT, 3-for-6 FT), six rebounds, six assists, four steals and a block. Dasher finished behind Hodge with 16 points (5-for-10 FG, 6-for-6 FT), four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Kearing finished with 12 points (5-for-8 FG, 2-for-4 FT), three rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block, while Jones rounded out the Manatees with 11 points (4-for-6 FG, 2-for-4 3PT, 1-for-4 FT), two rebounds, an assist and a steal off the bench.
Robert was the hero of the game as he secured the game-winning 3-pointer. The Baton Rouge native finished with six points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal. All of Roberts' points were 3-pointers.
"Remy stepped up and played really well defensively in both games and was solid offensively," said Parks on Robert. "He made some good plays in his role, especially when he knocked down the huge 3-pointer at the end of the game to put us up by three with 27 seconds left. That was a great shot."
Clark was held to three points and one assist, while Grayson (six points and one rebound) and sophomore Max Bell-Ramos (two points and two rebounds) also contributed in the game.
Other Suncoast Scores:
Prior to the Florida Men's College Basketball Shootout, #7 FSW (14-1) defeated Miami Dade (11-4) 82-71 on the road before defeating Palm Beach State (8-7) 76-52 and RV Chipola College (10-4) 68-66 at the shootout. The Buccaneers will close out 2019 on their home grounds next weekend as they welcome NJCAA Region 4 Oakton Community College (2-11) and NJCAA Region 12 Delta College (5-4) to the Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
#21 Polk State (11-3) defeated FSCJ 87-67 on day one of the tournament before falling to Pensacola State (10-5) by a score of 101-99 in overtime on day two to close out their part of 2019. The Eagles will be back in action at the start of 2020 as they welcome RV Central Florida (14-3) to Winter Haven Health Center Wednesday afternoon, January 1 at 3 pm.
St. Pete College (7-7) split at the Florida College's Men's Basketball Shootout losing 76-71 in overtime to RV Chipola before defeating ASA Miami 69-67. The Titans will return home to face Gordon State College (1-5) Thursday afternoon, December 18 at 1 pm for their final home of 2019 before returning to Georgia December 28 to face Central Georgia Technical College (7-5) at 1 pm and then travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama Sunday morning, December 29 to take on Shelton State (9-2) for their final two games of 2019.
Hillsborough (7-7) defeated Daytona State College (8-6) 81-74 before defeating Central Pointe Christian Academy 75-64. The Hawks will return home and welcome Gordon State College (1-5) to the Dale Mabry Campus Gym Wednesday night, December 18 at 6 pm. This will be their last home game of 2019.
Notes:
Hodge earned his 1,000th career point with the Manatees against FSCJ and now has 1,014 in his career. The upcoming Cleveland State Transfer became the first Manatee since James Life (1,341, 2003-05) to reach 1,000 career points.
"I knew he was going to make it because it's D'Moi Hodge and he scored 50 points on the weekend with 41 on the first night," said Parks on Hodge reaching 1,000 career points. "During the game, I didn't have a reaction because I was so exhausted because the energy from the first semester got us these wins and I didn't even realize it on the bus, I was like 'oh shoot, did D'Moi have 20 points?' I thought he needed 20 but I was wrong after I looked back and coach Nav (Gill) told me he did. It's an amazing accomplishment and I don't think people realize that he has played 46 games in a college uniform and he's scored 1,000 points in which not many players could do that in their career, so for him to do it halfway through his sophomore year is amazing, so hats off to him."
"It feels so good to know that I got my 1,000th point for a year and a half," said Hodge on get 1,000 career points. "That meant that I was really balling out for this milestone."
Dasher's 14 points put him at 771 and is now 229 shy of also reaching 1,000 career points.
Up Next:
The Manatees will close out 2019 with one final tournament appearance as they travel to Melbourne to compete in the Josh Artis Classic December 28-29, hosted by Eastern Florida State. The Manatees will play Palm Beach State at 4 pm before taking on NJCAA Region 22 Coastal Alabama-North (0-12) at 3 pm.
Fun Fact:
The Manatees are 8-4 against colleges not from Florida with their most recent against USC Salkahatchie.
Robert was the hero of the game as he secured the game-winning 3-pointer. The Baton Rouge native finished with six points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal. All of Roberts' points were 3-pointers.
"Remy stepped up and played really well defensively in both games and was solid offensively," said Parks on Robert. "He made some good plays in his role, especially when he knocked down the huge 3-pointer at the end of the game to put us up by three with 27 seconds left. That was a great shot."
Clark was held to three points and one assist, while Grayson (six points and one rebound) and sophomore Max Bell-Ramos (two points and two rebounds) also contributed in the game.
Other Suncoast Scores:
Prior to the Florida Men's College Basketball Shootout, #7 FSW (14-1) defeated Miami Dade (11-4) 82-71 on the road before defeating Palm Beach State (8-7) 76-52 and RV Chipola College (10-4) 68-66 at the shootout. The Buccaneers will close out 2019 on their home grounds next weekend as they welcome NJCAA Region 4 Oakton Community College (2-11) and NJCAA Region 12 Delta College (5-4) to the Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
#21 Polk State (11-3) defeated FSCJ 87-67 on day one of the tournament before falling to Pensacola State (10-5) by a score of 101-99 in overtime on day two to close out their part of 2019. The Eagles will be back in action at the start of 2020 as they welcome RV Central Florida (14-3) to Winter Haven Health Center Wednesday afternoon, January 1 at 3 pm.
St. Pete College (7-7) split at the Florida College's Men's Basketball Shootout losing 76-71 in overtime to RV Chipola before defeating ASA Miami 69-67. The Titans will return home to face Gordon State College (1-5) Thursday afternoon, December 18 at 1 pm for their final home of 2019 before returning to Georgia December 28 to face Central Georgia Technical College (7-5) at 1 pm and then travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama Sunday morning, December 29 to take on Shelton State (9-2) for their final two games of 2019.
Hillsborough (7-7) defeated Daytona State College (8-6) 81-74 before defeating Central Pointe Christian Academy 75-64. The Hawks will return home and welcome Gordon State College (1-5) to the Dale Mabry Campus Gym Wednesday night, December 18 at 6 pm. This will be their last home game of 2019.
Notes:
Hodge earned his 1,000th career point with the Manatees against FSCJ and now has 1,014 in his career. The upcoming Cleveland State Transfer became the first Manatee since James Life (1,341, 2003-05) to reach 1,000 career points.
"I knew he was going to make it because it's D'Moi Hodge and he scored 50 points on the weekend with 41 on the first night," said Parks on Hodge reaching 1,000 career points. "During the game, I didn't have a reaction because I was so exhausted because the energy from the first semester got us these wins and I didn't even realize it on the bus, I was like 'oh shoot, did D'Moi have 20 points?' I thought he needed 20 but I was wrong after I looked back and coach Nav (Gill) told me he did. It's an amazing accomplishment and I don't think people realize that he has played 46 games in a college uniform and he's scored 1,000 points in which not many players could do that in their career, so for him to do it halfway through his sophomore year is amazing, so hats off to him."
"It feels so good to know that I got my 1,000th point for a year and a half," said Hodge on get 1,000 career points. "That meant that I was really balling out for this milestone."
Dasher's 14 points put him at 771 and is now 229 shy of also reaching 1,000 career points.
Up Next:
The Manatees will close out 2019 with one final tournament appearance as they travel to Melbourne to compete in the Josh Artis Classic December 28-29, hosted by Eastern Florida State. The Manatees will play Palm Beach State at 4 pm before taking on NJCAA Region 22 Coastal Alabama-North (0-12) at 3 pm.
Fun Fact:
The Manatees are 8-4 against colleges not from Florida with their most recent against USC Salkahatchie.
Botsford's Moment
For the SCF tennis team, each player has a different story on how they've grown up around holding a racket in their hands. On the team there are nine players on the team, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen.
For this story, I chose to do it on one of the two returning true sophomores, Britain "Brie" Botsford. A native of Delray Beach, Florida, Botsford joined SCF in fall 2018 yet her story of her career in tennis began in her own backyard with a strong tennis background.
For this story, I chose to do it on one of the two returning true sophomores, Britain "Brie" Botsford. A native of Delray Beach, Florida, Botsford joined SCF in fall 2018 yet her story of her career in tennis began in her own backyard with a strong tennis background.
"I first got into tennis when I was four years old and it was thanks to my dad," said Botsford. "He decided it would be a good idea to to stick a tennis racket in my hand and I’ve been doing it ever since."
Although she was committed to continue playing, Botsford did go through many obstacles that tried to stop her from playing or continuing to play sport she loved.
"Playing a sport for as long as I have its hard not to. It usually involved past coaches or losing passion. I’m a very stubborn person so no matter what obstacles I faced, I pushed through and it all worked out in the end."
And low and behold she did and continued to push herself harder on a competitive edge to partake in several tennis tournaments like the Orange Bowl and the Eddie Herr Tournament as well as several different national tournament like the Extreme Tennis Academy Tournament.
Despite having several offers to many different colleges and universities, Botsford fell in love with SCF after a campus visit and committed to being a Manatee a couple of days after. Upon her official arrival at SCF, the first person to give her a 'Welcome to SCF' warm welcome was head coach Chloe Murphy. Botsford joined SCF as one of six newcomers and five true freshmen, yet at first she was a little hesitant in the beginning of the season.
"I was scared at first," said Botsford on meeting her new teammates. "I was nervous that we wouldn’t get along, but it couldn’t of worked out any better. I consider them my sisters and couldn’t ask for better teammates."
Right as rain, Botsford warmed up with all of her teammates and was officially placed at the number five singles spot and the number three doubles pairing up primarily with then sophomore Diarra Thomas, yet still having her jitters even in the Manatees season opener against Southeastern University (NAIA). In fact, Botsford wasn't too nervous in her spring season debut.
"I’ve played hundreds of matches so it wasn’t really different, so I was more excited than nervous," said Botsford.
Even though she loves playing tennis, Botsford does have several hobbies she likes to do outside of tennis, even if it was on a strict time frame.
"There’s a lot of hobbies that I have," said Botsford on outside of tennis. "Photography has always been a really big passion of mine. It got to the point where I was considering going to art school for it. Reading is also really big for me, I own a couple hundred books but with tennis and school I haven’t had as much time as I used to. But currently I’ve been really into makeup and been practicing on my teammates practically everyday. "
Botsford did finish 8-10 in singles play and 10-8 in doubles with Thomas her freshman year and went as far as the quarterfinals in both areas at the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament, but even before that Botsford has had her fair share of intense matches during the season she flashed back on as well as memorable moments at SCF, especially when flashing back to their 6-3 win over Broward College and her match against Hillsborough.
"Probably my most talked about match would have to be when I played HCC last spring," said Botsford on one of her matches. "We ended up splitting sets and I won in a tie breaker 11-9. The match lasted over 3 hours. It was one of the toughest matches of my life and took a lot of mental and psychical strength to get through it. The girl ended up winning states and got very far in the draw at nationals. So, it was considered a pretty big win for me."
"I have so many great memories here," Botsford added on her memories. "Honestly anytime I’m with all the girls is a favorite memory, but if I had to pick one it would have to be when we went to Disney World on our day off after winning 2 matches in a row and knocking Broward out of their spot. Or the day we all came back to school and reunited this past August after being away from each other for the entire summer."
While she now prepares for her sophomore campaign and 2020 spring season, Botsford stills plans to continue getting involved with something she loves.
"I plan on going to a division 1 school to continue my tennis career," said Botsford on her future. "I haven’t decided what school yet, but I’m not in a rush. But after college I plan on retiring from tennis and not going pro. I’ve always been so interested in many different career paths, so I’m going to go after one of those. Tennis will always be apart of me, but for me I don’t want to do the same thing for the rest of my life and tennis has been my life/job since I was a kid. I know I want to do something within the publishing or film industry, but I’m not sure exactly what yet."
Wherever Botsford's journey takes her, whether it's in the publishing industry, film industry or on the tennis court, her journey with SCF is not close to being over yet as she continues to push herself this season and looks to help lead the Manatees to another state and national tournament appearance.
Despite having several offers to many different colleges and universities, Botsford fell in love with SCF after a campus visit and committed to being a Manatee a couple of days after. Upon her official arrival at SCF, the first person to give her a 'Welcome to SCF' warm welcome was head coach Chloe Murphy. Botsford joined SCF as one of six newcomers and five true freshmen, yet at first she was a little hesitant in the beginning of the season.
"I was scared at first," said Botsford on meeting her new teammates. "I was nervous that we wouldn’t get along, but it couldn’t of worked out any better. I consider them my sisters and couldn’t ask for better teammates."
Right as rain, Botsford warmed up with all of her teammates and was officially placed at the number five singles spot and the number three doubles pairing up primarily with then sophomore Diarra Thomas, yet still having her jitters even in the Manatees season opener against Southeastern University (NAIA). In fact, Botsford wasn't too nervous in her spring season debut.
"I’ve played hundreds of matches so it wasn’t really different, so I was more excited than nervous," said Botsford.
Even though she loves playing tennis, Botsford does have several hobbies she likes to do outside of tennis, even if it was on a strict time frame.
"There’s a lot of hobbies that I have," said Botsford on outside of tennis. "Photography has always been a really big passion of mine. It got to the point where I was considering going to art school for it. Reading is also really big for me, I own a couple hundred books but with tennis and school I haven’t had as much time as I used to. But currently I’ve been really into makeup and been practicing on my teammates practically everyday. "
Botsford did finish 8-10 in singles play and 10-8 in doubles with Thomas her freshman year and went as far as the quarterfinals in both areas at the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament, but even before that Botsford has had her fair share of intense matches during the season she flashed back on as well as memorable moments at SCF, especially when flashing back to their 6-3 win over Broward College and her match against Hillsborough.
"Probably my most talked about match would have to be when I played HCC last spring," said Botsford on one of her matches. "We ended up splitting sets and I won in a tie breaker 11-9. The match lasted over 3 hours. It was one of the toughest matches of my life and took a lot of mental and psychical strength to get through it. The girl ended up winning states and got very far in the draw at nationals. So, it was considered a pretty big win for me."
"I have so many great memories here," Botsford added on her memories. "Honestly anytime I’m with all the girls is a favorite memory, but if I had to pick one it would have to be when we went to Disney World on our day off after winning 2 matches in a row and knocking Broward out of their spot. Or the day we all came back to school and reunited this past August after being away from each other for the entire summer."
While she now prepares for her sophomore campaign and 2020 spring season, Botsford stills plans to continue getting involved with something she loves.
"I plan on going to a division 1 school to continue my tennis career," said Botsford on her future. "I haven’t decided what school yet, but I’m not in a rush. But after college I plan on retiring from tennis and not going pro. I’ve always been so interested in many different career paths, so I’m going to go after one of those. Tennis will always be apart of me, but for me I don’t want to do the same thing for the rest of my life and tennis has been my life/job since I was a kid. I know I want to do something within the publishing or film industry, but I’m not sure exactly what yet."
Wherever Botsford's journey takes her, whether it's in the publishing industry, film industry or on the tennis court, her journey with SCF is not close to being over yet as she continues to push herself this season and looks to help lead the Manatees to another state and national tournament appearance.
Boom, Crash, Splash
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| The SCF Wave Top row (from left to right): Suzette Dimas and Jazmine Fuentes Second row (from left to right): Terra Jones, Alexa Ayala and Alyssa Brooker Third row (from left to right): Fransheska Avilés and Amaris Holliman Front row: Sabrina Ortiz Not Pictured: Tamara Kenon, Camila Vargash and Naomi Ortiz |
But a new group has arrived and continues to make themselves known as the same support as the SCF Maniacs and turned out to be the group known as the SCF Wave.
Who are the SCF Wave and what do they do:
The SCF Wave are a cheerleading/dance team that cheer and dance at many of the SCF basketball games. The group dances to several hip hop and Latin music while getting the SCF Maniacs hyped up with their cheers and dance moves minus the cheerleading outfits.
Each individual has a story behind them where they bring years of experience doing cheerleading, hip hop dancing, gymnastics and everything in between.
How it Began:
The SCF Wave started during the 2018-19 school year with five to six members with the founder and first president of the group Erinn Lee. Currently, Lee now goes Florida Gulf Coast University and has handed down the torch to now president Sabrina Ortiz and co-captain Naomi Ortiz. Now the team has expanded from five to girls to 11 to 12.
"Erinn (Lee) decided to create something that was originally at SCF and she wanted to bring a dance and cheer element to SCF," said Sabrina Ortiz. "She and I are best friends and we grew up dancing together."
"The Wave is not a mandatory, it's by choice if they want to come," said Ortiz on the expansion. "Basically what we did was create posters and post them all around the school and all over social media to spread the word for people to join, mainly girls."
The team meets up every Monday and Wednesday and practice for two hours.
"What we basically do within the practices is go over the fundamentals of how you would start a dance class or how you start cheers," said Ortiz on the practices. "We go through body exercises and body warmups as well as doing the same thing with vocals."
The Wave officially began during the 2018-19 SCF basketball season and going in, Ortiz did not have any cheerleading experience, but Naomi did after doing cheerleading for two years.
"With the exception of Naomi, none of has any cheerleading experience," said Ortiz. "But I did for Erinn because she wanted to get the team/club going and we both were kind of uneasy about it because we never did it before and kept asking ourselves 'how are we going to do this?' Naomi was like 'I don't think I want to do this anymore Sabrina' and I told her that we just got to look at this as another form of dance because well-rounded dancers can do anything so why can't we do cheer as well. Low and behold that's where it started. We kept coming to practices and having so much fun at the games. Naomi and I just fell in love with the atmosphere and watching the basketball team play well and being involved with big groups of people."
"One of the main reasons I did this was I missed dancing," said Naomi Ortiz. "It was another way to keep doing what I like to do and have been doing since I was little."
Ortiz mentioned a moment where the team got to travel to see the basketball team play in Tampa and are hoping to travel again by the second half of this season, but in order to do so they need to raise funds and get a van to travel instead of using their own personal vehicles for transportation. The Wave did actually do a fundraiser at St. Armands Circle in Sarasota.
"We just walked around and told people who we are and how were trying to raise money for our team to get uniforms and transportation," said Ortiz on the recent fundraiser. "They even asked if we can do some cheers for them which we did."
The SCF Wave still plan to plan more fundraisers in the near future, while the Ortiz family continues to pass on the torch after they enroll at FGCU to join Lee.
"Every girl I've worked with has a lot of potential to be the next president of the Wave," said Sabrina Ortiz. "I would like to see more because I think it can happen in another semester, so we don't know who will be in charge of the team to take over for me and Naomi once we head to FGCU."
Both Sabrina and Naomi will still be helping out the Wave for part of the 2020-21 school year due to her major, but it may not be one of Sabrina's main priorities fall 2020 and hopes that the team will continue with possible scholarship opportunities and making it an official team. The Wave will also plan to do cheer and dance for next volleyball season.
"I'm just hoping they'll do more events for us to continue running the Wave," said Naomi Ortiz.
My Thoughts:
I first met the original group of members including the founder last school and they all gave it 100% maximum effort to get the team hyped up and the Maniacs on their feet to keep cheering for the basketball and volleyball team.
Thinking about this story while I wrote reminds of how I did a story on the FGCU cheerleaders and how they got little to no credit for getting the Dirty Birds hyped up and they were considered and arguably the SCF Wave are also considered athletes.
How you may ask? Well it's simple: If you can run, jump, flip, do any kind of gymnastics or dance, then you are an athlete because you keep moving and that's what the SCF Wave does, they keep moving. I hope that the SCF Wave continues to do what they're doing and will make it an official part of the SCF athletics family.
If you want to know more about the SCF Wave, follow them on Twitter and Instagram:
Twitter: @SCFWave
Instagram: @SCFwave8
2nd Herd Back in Ocala
The SCF basketball team (10-4) readies for one of their two final two-day weekend tournaments of 2019 as they travel back to Ocala to compete in the Florida College's Men's Basketball JUCO Shootout at the Patriots Gym, hosted by Central Florida. The Manatees will face ASA Miami (4-9) and Florida State College at Jacksonville (4-7) Saturday and Sunday afternoon, December 14-15. Both games will start at 4 pm. #5 FSW (12-1), #21 Polk State (10-2), St. Pete (6-6), RV CCF (12-3), RV Chipola (9-3), Palm Beach State (8-5), Pensacola State (9-4), and RV USC Salkahatchie (10-3) will also be competing in the shootout, but will not play SCF in the tournament. The Manatees won't play FSW, Polk State or SPC until Suncoast Conference play.
Last Time Out:
The Manatees are coming off of playing in a tight knit game against Santa Fe at home winning by a score of 84-80. It was the Manatees' final home game of 2019.
Sophomores D'Moi Hodge and Isiah Dasher and freshman Jordan Clark continue leading the Manatees offense.
Hodge is averaging 27.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 2.2 steals and 2.5 blocks per game. Against Santa Fe, the reigning NJCAA National Player of the Week had 25 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. The upcoming Cleveland State transfer currently in his career has 954 career points and is 46 away from reaching 1,000 career points.
Dasher is averaging 16.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. The native of Jersey City, N.J. had 14 points, five rebounds and two assists against Santa Fe. Like Hodge, Dasher is also on point to reaching 1,000 career points as he has 748 currently. Dasher is only 252 shy in doing so.
Clark had 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals against Santa Fe. The product of Booker High School is currently averaging 13.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
Sophomore Chris Scarborough and freshmen Marshall Kearing and Sam Grayson continue to lead the way as the big men.
Despite not playing against Santa Fe, Scarborough is still averaging 4.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. As for the Australian duo, Kearing is averaging 9.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and two blocks per game while Grayson is averaging 4.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Kearing had seven points and two rebounds against Santa Fe, while Grayson had one of his best games with a season-high 10 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Max Bell-Ramos, redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon and freshman Michael Gavin continue their strong roles as wild cards. Bell-Ramos is averaging 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, while McCutcheon is averaging 5.9 points and assists per game and Gavin averaging 5.9 points per game. Against Santa Fe, Bell-Ramos had seven points, five rebounds and two blocks while McCutcheon had four points, one assist and three steals and Gavin added three rebounds and two assists.
Although he is averaging 3.8 points per game, the hero against Santa Fe was actually sophomore Remy Robert II as he scored six points on two 3-pointers while being a strong defender.
Scouting ASA Miami:
The Silver Storm are coming off of playing in two tight knit games losing to Florida Gateway by a score of 93-90 before losing to Hillsborough by a score of 78-77.
Freshman Jean-Karlo Iciano Rivera, who plays off the bench, is averaging 11.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Rivera finished his last game against Florida Gateway off the bench with 32 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Sebastien Jean is averaging 10.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Jean did not play against Florida Gateway.
Freshman Darian Hercule is averaging 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game despite having no points but four rebounds.
Scouting FSCJ:
The Blue Wave are coming off of competing against Tallahassee Community College losing by a score of 83-42. Prior to playing SCF, the Blue Wave will play Polk State Friday at noon, December 14 at the JUCO Shootout
Freshman Johnny Brown leads the way for the Blue Wave averaging 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while classmate Evan Busby averages 10.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and sophomore Eddie Davis is averaging 10.3 points and three assists per game.
Series History:
The Manatees are 2-1 against the Silver Storm, while against the Blue Wave they are 6-4.
SCF faced ASA Miami on December 16, 2016 where the Silver Storm won by a score of 92-85. The Manatees last win over the Silver Storm was on December 12, 2015 where the Manatees won.
Last time SCF faced FSCJ was last season where the Manatees won 86-79. The Blue Wave's last win over the Manatees was on November 16, 2016 by a score of 85-80 at Jacksonville.
It is uncertain that the game will air livestream, but fans can follow up to date with all three teams on Twitter:
SCF: @SCF_Basketball
ASA Miami: @ASASilverStorm
FSCJ: @FSCJMBB
Last Time Out:
The Manatees are coming off of playing in a tight knit game against Santa Fe at home winning by a score of 84-80. It was the Manatees' final home game of 2019.
Sophomores D'Moi Hodge and Isiah Dasher and freshman Jordan Clark continue leading the Manatees offense.
Hodge is averaging 27.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 2.2 steals and 2.5 blocks per game. Against Santa Fe, the reigning NJCAA National Player of the Week had 25 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. The upcoming Cleveland State transfer currently in his career has 954 career points and is 46 away from reaching 1,000 career points.
Dasher is averaging 16.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. The native of Jersey City, N.J. had 14 points, five rebounds and two assists against Santa Fe. Like Hodge, Dasher is also on point to reaching 1,000 career points as he has 748 currently. Dasher is only 252 shy in doing so.
Clark had 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals against Santa Fe. The product of Booker High School is currently averaging 13.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
Sophomore Chris Scarborough and freshmen Marshall Kearing and Sam Grayson continue to lead the way as the big men.
Despite not playing against Santa Fe, Scarborough is still averaging 4.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. As for the Australian duo, Kearing is averaging 9.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and two blocks per game while Grayson is averaging 4.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Kearing had seven points and two rebounds against Santa Fe, while Grayson had one of his best games with a season-high 10 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Max Bell-Ramos, redshirt freshman Calvin McCutcheon and freshman Michael Gavin continue their strong roles as wild cards. Bell-Ramos is averaging 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, while McCutcheon is averaging 5.9 points and assists per game and Gavin averaging 5.9 points per game. Against Santa Fe, Bell-Ramos had seven points, five rebounds and two blocks while McCutcheon had four points, one assist and three steals and Gavin added three rebounds and two assists.
Although he is averaging 3.8 points per game, the hero against Santa Fe was actually sophomore Remy Robert II as he scored six points on two 3-pointers while being a strong defender.
Scouting ASA Miami:
The Silver Storm are coming off of playing in two tight knit games losing to Florida Gateway by a score of 93-90 before losing to Hillsborough by a score of 78-77.
Freshman Jean-Karlo Iciano Rivera, who plays off the bench, is averaging 11.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Rivera finished his last game against Florida Gateway off the bench with 32 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Sebastien Jean is averaging 10.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Jean did not play against Florida Gateway.
Freshman Darian Hercule is averaging 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game despite having no points but four rebounds.
Scouting FSCJ:
The Blue Wave are coming off of competing against Tallahassee Community College losing by a score of 83-42. Prior to playing SCF, the Blue Wave will play Polk State Friday at noon, December 14 at the JUCO Shootout
Freshman Johnny Brown leads the way for the Blue Wave averaging 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while classmate Evan Busby averages 10.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game and sophomore Eddie Davis is averaging 10.3 points and three assists per game.
Series History:
The Manatees are 2-1 against the Silver Storm, while against the Blue Wave they are 6-4.
SCF faced ASA Miami on December 16, 2016 where the Silver Storm won by a score of 92-85. The Manatees last win over the Silver Storm was on December 12, 2015 where the Manatees won.
Last time SCF faced FSCJ was last season where the Manatees won 86-79. The Blue Wave's last win over the Manatees was on November 16, 2016 by a score of 85-80 at Jacksonville.
It is uncertain that the game will air livestream, but fans can follow up to date with all three teams on Twitter:
SCF: @SCF_Basketball
ASA Miami: @ASASilverStorm
FSCJ: @FSCJMBB
FGCU WBB vs Florida Memorial Recap
After being on the road for four straight games, the FGCU women's basketball team (10-1) returned home for a lite game as they defeated NAIA Florida Memorial (6-5) 91-47 at the Alico Arena. With the win, the Eagles are now 12-0 against the Lions.
Five Eagles ended up in double figures with grad student Ashli O'Neal leading the pack with 15 points (6-for-10 FG, 3-for-5 3PT) and a rebound. Redshirt junior Kerstie Phills followed with 13 points (6-for-10 FG, 1-for-2 3PT), eight rebounds and an assist, while redshirt senior Keri Jewett-Giles had 12 points (4-for-7 FG, 2-for-3 3PT, 2-for-4 FT), three rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Redshirt junior Anja Marinkovic finished with 11 points (4-for-10 FG, 3-for-8 3PT), two rebounds and a steal, while junior Sheahen Dowling rounded out the order with a tied season-high 10 points (4-for-6 FG, 2-for-3 3PT), four rebounds and three assists.
"I thought we got off to a good start," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We pushed the ball in transition and were looking to share it. When we created space for one another, we were pretty good. Ashli gave us a spark off the bench, and Emma (List) and Sheahen did really well coming in with some quality minutes."
The game began with the crowd being silent as part of the Silent Night Game. The Eagles began with a 3-point shot from Jewett-Giles and two back-to-back layups by Phills before the Lions got their first points off of back-to-back 3-pointers by seniors Ashleign Gary and Shawnice King. With the score 7-6 FGCU, the fans finally got loud as redshirt senior Davion Wingate hit a 3-pointer to finally break the fans' silence. Shortly thereafter, a 9-0 run that was capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Wingate and Phills gave FGCU a 16-6 lead. O'Neal then scored five of the team's final seven points in the quarter, including a 3-pointer just before the buzzer, to push the margin to 18.
The Green and Blue used a 17-6 run to open the second quarter. The spurt featured five points from Jewett-Giles and gave FGCU a 43-14 lead with 5:14 left as the Eagles eventually led by 26 at the break.
After Florida Memorial opened the scoring in the third quarter, the Green and Blue went on an 18-6 run, capped by a Marinkovic 3-pointer, to push the lead to 38 with 3:38 left. A 9-2 spurt to open the fourth pushed the advantage to a game-high 45 points with 5:14 left, and the FGCU defense allowed just seven points in the entire quarter.
Senior Tytionia Adderly needed just 14 minutes to tally a team-high nine rebounds to go along with three points and three assists. She is averaging a career-high 10 rebounds per game this year.
Redshirt junior Erna Normil added a season-high six rebounds off the bench, while junior Alyssa Blair had the team's lone block along with five points, three rebounds and two assists. Redshirt junior Chandler Ryan had two steals in eight minutes off the bench, which matched Jewett-Giles for the team-high.
Notes:
FGCU finished 15-for-40 (.375) from 3-point range to increase its nation-best made total to 143 this year. The Eagles entered the night 36 ahead of the next closest team (South Dakota, 94).
The Eagles debuted at No. 15 in the first official NCAA RPI of the season earlier on Monday. They also sat in the receiving votes section of the AP Poll for the second-consecutive week, but increased its vote total from 28 to 39 despite continuing to have the 27th-most votes. The Coaches Poll, where the Eagles had the 28th-most votes last week, comes out on Tuesday afternoon.
The 10-1 start is FGCU's best in nine years and the second-best in the program's Division I era behind a 14-0 spurt to open the 2010-11 season.
Wingate finished with eight points, failing to tally double-figures for the first time this year.
O'Neal now has 955 points in her NCAA career as she continues her push for 1,000. Adderly, meanwhile, has 956 career rebounds. She tied Kat Sungy (Jacksonville, 1999-2003, 956) for 13th-most in A-SUN history on Monday and is looking to become only the 12th player in conference history to reach 1,000 - including the first in FGCU history.
Next Up:
FGCU will host Central Connecticut State at 7 p.m. on Dec. 17. It will be the first time the two teams have met since the Eagles produced a 71-52 win on Nov. 23, 2007.
Five Eagles ended up in double figures with grad student Ashli O'Neal leading the pack with 15 points (6-for-10 FG, 3-for-5 3PT) and a rebound. Redshirt junior Kerstie Phills followed with 13 points (6-for-10 FG, 1-for-2 3PT), eight rebounds and an assist, while redshirt senior Keri Jewett-Giles had 12 points (4-for-7 FG, 2-for-3 3PT, 2-for-4 FT), three rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Redshirt junior Anja Marinkovic finished with 11 points (4-for-10 FG, 3-for-8 3PT), two rebounds and a steal, while junior Sheahen Dowling rounded out the order with a tied season-high 10 points (4-for-6 FG, 2-for-3 3PT), four rebounds and three assists.
"I thought we got off to a good start," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We pushed the ball in transition and were looking to share it. When we created space for one another, we were pretty good. Ashli gave us a spark off the bench, and Emma (List) and Sheahen did really well coming in with some quality minutes."
The game began with the crowd being silent as part of the Silent Night Game. The Eagles began with a 3-point shot from Jewett-Giles and two back-to-back layups by Phills before the Lions got their first points off of back-to-back 3-pointers by seniors Ashleign Gary and Shawnice King. With the score 7-6 FGCU, the fans finally got loud as redshirt senior Davion Wingate hit a 3-pointer to finally break the fans' silence. Shortly thereafter, a 9-0 run that was capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Wingate and Phills gave FGCU a 16-6 lead. O'Neal then scored five of the team's final seven points in the quarter, including a 3-pointer just before the buzzer, to push the margin to 18.
The Green and Blue used a 17-6 run to open the second quarter. The spurt featured five points from Jewett-Giles and gave FGCU a 43-14 lead with 5:14 left as the Eagles eventually led by 26 at the break.
After Florida Memorial opened the scoring in the third quarter, the Green and Blue went on an 18-6 run, capped by a Marinkovic 3-pointer, to push the lead to 38 with 3:38 left. A 9-2 spurt to open the fourth pushed the advantage to a game-high 45 points with 5:14 left, and the FGCU defense allowed just seven points in the entire quarter.
Senior Tytionia Adderly needed just 14 minutes to tally a team-high nine rebounds to go along with three points and three assists. She is averaging a career-high 10 rebounds per game this year.
Redshirt junior Erna Normil added a season-high six rebounds off the bench, while junior Alyssa Blair had the team's lone block along with five points, three rebounds and two assists. Redshirt junior Chandler Ryan had two steals in eight minutes off the bench, which matched Jewett-Giles for the team-high.
Notes:
FGCU finished 15-for-40 (.375) from 3-point range to increase its nation-best made total to 143 this year. The Eagles entered the night 36 ahead of the next closest team (South Dakota, 94).
The Eagles debuted at No. 15 in the first official NCAA RPI of the season earlier on Monday. They also sat in the receiving votes section of the AP Poll for the second-consecutive week, but increased its vote total from 28 to 39 despite continuing to have the 27th-most votes. The Coaches Poll, where the Eagles had the 28th-most votes last week, comes out on Tuesday afternoon.
The 10-1 start is FGCU's best in nine years and the second-best in the program's Division I era behind a 14-0 spurt to open the 2010-11 season.
Wingate finished with eight points, failing to tally double-figures for the first time this year.
O'Neal now has 955 points in her NCAA career as she continues her push for 1,000. Adderly, meanwhile, has 956 career rebounds. She tied Kat Sungy (Jacksonville, 1999-2003, 956) for 13th-most in A-SUN history on Monday and is looking to become only the 12th player in conference history to reach 1,000 - including the first in FGCU history.
Next Up:
FGCU will host Central Connecticut State at 7 p.m. on Dec. 17. It will be the first time the two teams have met since the Eagles produced a 71-52 win on Nov. 23, 2007.
FGCU WBB vs Florida Memorial Preview
The FGCU women's basketball team (9-1) will meet Florida Memorial (6-5) on Monday at 7 p.m. inside Alico Arena. It will be the third-consecutive season the two teams have met.
The matchup is part of Christmas Movie Night and is the team's Silent Night game, where the crowd will stay completely silent until the Eagles score their 10th point.
Wingate on A Tear:
Davion Wingate is averaging 17.3 points per contest through the season's first 10 games, which is just behind Sarah Hansen's 17.4 per game start through the same amount of games in 2012-13. In fact, they're the only two in the program's Division I era to average at least 17 at this point of the season. Trish Fleming also averaged 22.8 points in the 2002-03 season, but that was when the Eagles were an NAIA team.
Nationally-Ranked Eagles?:
Last week, FGCU sat just outside the top 25 in the two major national polls, receiving the 27th-most votes in the Associated Press and 28th-most in the Coaches Poll. A couple teams ahead of them have since lost, giving the Eagles a potential chance to earn their first ranking since finishing 25th in the Coaches Poll on April 2, 2018. Their last AP ranking came April 6, 2015 when they finished the season 21st. The new polls come out Monday and Tuesday.
Real-Time RPI:
While the first official RPI rankings produced by the NCAA haven't come out yet this year, FGCU is ranked 13th in the RealTimeRPI.com rankings with their only loss this year to No. 5 Princeton. For the full rankings, visit here.
AAC who?:
After the 57-45 win over Houston this past Wednesday, FGCU is now 3-0 against American Athletic Conference (AAC) teams. They entered the season slated to face four of the top six teams in the AAC preseason poll, and they've now defeated USF (2nd), UCF (3rd) and Houston (5th). Temple, who was picked sixth, rounds out the action on Dec. 22.
Down Go The Fighting Irish, More Power 5's On Tap:
With their win over defending national runner-up Notre Dame last week, FGCU produced its sixth all-time win against an ACC school, which is its most against any Power 5 conference. The Eagles have also won five against the SEC, four vs the Big 10 and one apiece against the Pac 12 and Big 12. They'll get a chance to improve their 17-27 all-time record against Power 5 schools on Dec. 19 vs No. 25 LSU and Dec. 29 vs Duke.
Rebounding Legend:
Senior forward Tytionia Adderly recently eclipsed Sarah Hansen's (887, 2010-14) career rebounding record. She now has 947 and is attempting to become the first player in program history with 1,000 rebounds, which would also make her only the 12th in ASUN history to achieve that milestone. She surpassed Kristy Brown (Stetson, 2001-05, 941) for 14th-most in the win over Houston and is now only 10 short of eclipsing Kat Sungy (Jacksonville, 1999-2003, 956) for 13th.
Furthermore, Adderly is one of only four players in the program's Division I history to rank in the top 10 in career rebounds, assists, steals and blocks - joining Sarah Hansen, Whitney Knight and DyTiesha Dunson.
Trio reaches 1,000, O'Neal looking to join:
The trio of Keri Jewett-Giles (1,065), Davion Wingate (1,051) and Nasrin Ulel (1,034) eclipsed the 1,000 point plateau in their NCAA careers in back-to-back-to-back games starting with Saint Francis on Nov. 22. They will be honored for their accomplishments prior to the team's next home game against Central Connecticut State on Dec. 17. Additionally, Ashli O'Neal enters tonight's game just 60 points shy of becoming the fourth to achieve the mark.
Back-to-Back in the A-SUN:
Last Tuesday, graduate transfer guard Ashli O'Neal won her second straight ASUN newcomer of the week award, and she proceeded to pour in 15 points in the team's win over Houston on Wednesday. Furthermore, Keri Jewett-Giles was named the ASUN player of the week for the first time this season after dropping 12, 19 and 24 points in wins over Notre Dame, No. 20 USF and South Dakota State.
Raining Threes:
FGCU, which broke the NCAA's all-time record for most 3-pointers made in a season in 2017-18 with 431, is once again leading the nation in three of the four 3-point shooting categories. The only one they don't lead in is percentage, where they rank 79th nationally.
3-point field goals made
1. FGCU - 128
2. South Dakota - 94
3. DePaul - 93
4. Western Illinois - 91
5. Western Carolina - 87
Saint Mary's - 87
3-point field goals attempted
1. FGCU - 374
2. Western Carolina - 292
3. DePaul - 288
4. Western Illinois - 285
5. Harvard - 258
3-point field goals made per game
1. FGCU - 12.8
2. DePaul - 11.6
3. Saint Mary's - 10.9
4. High Point - 10.7
5. Abilene Christian - 10.6
Oregon - 10.6
NCAA Team Statistical Leaders (Top 50)
Assists - 16th, 155
Scoring margin - 28th, 19.7
Scoring offense - 23rd, 78.8
Steals - 11th, 109
Steals/game - 39th, 10.9
Turnovers forced - 26th, 21.70
Win-loss percentage - 17th, .900
Assist/turnover ratio
1. Oregon - 1.98
2. Northwestern - 1.69
3. Penn - 1.66
4. UCLA - 1.61
5. DePaul - 1.57
6. Creighton - 1.55
7. Baylor - 1.50
8. Loyola Chicago - 1.47
9. FGCU - 1.45
Maryland - 1.45
Fewest Turnovers Per Game
1. Creighton - 9.5
2. Arkansas - 10.7
FGCU - 10.7
4. Colorado State - 10.8
5. Minnesota - 11.0
Turnover Margin
1. Mississippi State - 12.22
2. Maryland - 11.22
3. FGCU - 11.00
East Carolina - 11.00
5. Minnesota - 10.71
NCAA Individual Statistical Leaders (Top 50)
Defensive rebounds/game - Tytionia Adderly (27th, 7.4)
Field goal attempts - Keri Jewett-Giles (47th, 130)
Field goals made - Davion Wingate (17th, 65)
Field goal percentage - Davion Wingate (25th, .613)
Total points - Davion Wingate (20th, 173), Keri Jewett-Giles (45th, 154)
Free throw percentage - Ashli O'Neal (22nd, .903)
Total rebounds - Tytionia Adderly (11th, 101)
Rebounds/game - Tytionia Adderly (37th, 10.1)
3-point field goals attempted - Nasrin Ulel (19th, 71), Keri Jewett-Giles (48th, 61)
3-point field goals made - Keri Jewett-Giles (26th, 25)
3-point field goal percentage - Davion Wingate (40th, .468)
Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280886
ESPN+ Link: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=d938c9dd-51ed-440b-8a59-93cb756c07a0
The matchup is part of Christmas Movie Night and is the team's Silent Night game, where the crowd will stay completely silent until the Eagles score their 10th point.
Wingate on A Tear:
Davion Wingate is averaging 17.3 points per contest through the season's first 10 games, which is just behind Sarah Hansen's 17.4 per game start through the same amount of games in 2012-13. In fact, they're the only two in the program's Division I era to average at least 17 at this point of the season. Trish Fleming also averaged 22.8 points in the 2002-03 season, but that was when the Eagles were an NAIA team.
Nationally-Ranked Eagles?:
Last week, FGCU sat just outside the top 25 in the two major national polls, receiving the 27th-most votes in the Associated Press and 28th-most in the Coaches Poll. A couple teams ahead of them have since lost, giving the Eagles a potential chance to earn their first ranking since finishing 25th in the Coaches Poll on April 2, 2018. Their last AP ranking came April 6, 2015 when they finished the season 21st. The new polls come out Monday and Tuesday.
Real-Time RPI:
While the first official RPI rankings produced by the NCAA haven't come out yet this year, FGCU is ranked 13th in the RealTimeRPI.com rankings with their only loss this year to No. 5 Princeton. For the full rankings, visit here.
AAC who?:
After the 57-45 win over Houston this past Wednesday, FGCU is now 3-0 against American Athletic Conference (AAC) teams. They entered the season slated to face four of the top six teams in the AAC preseason poll, and they've now defeated USF (2nd), UCF (3rd) and Houston (5th). Temple, who was picked sixth, rounds out the action on Dec. 22.
Down Go The Fighting Irish, More Power 5's On Tap:
With their win over defending national runner-up Notre Dame last week, FGCU produced its sixth all-time win against an ACC school, which is its most against any Power 5 conference. The Eagles have also won five against the SEC, four vs the Big 10 and one apiece against the Pac 12 and Big 12. They'll get a chance to improve their 17-27 all-time record against Power 5 schools on Dec. 19 vs No. 25 LSU and Dec. 29 vs Duke.
Rebounding Legend:
Senior forward Tytionia Adderly recently eclipsed Sarah Hansen's (887, 2010-14) career rebounding record. She now has 947 and is attempting to become the first player in program history with 1,000 rebounds, which would also make her only the 12th in ASUN history to achieve that milestone. She surpassed Kristy Brown (Stetson, 2001-05, 941) for 14th-most in the win over Houston and is now only 10 short of eclipsing Kat Sungy (Jacksonville, 1999-2003, 956) for 13th.
Furthermore, Adderly is one of only four players in the program's Division I history to rank in the top 10 in career rebounds, assists, steals and blocks - joining Sarah Hansen, Whitney Knight and DyTiesha Dunson.
Trio reaches 1,000, O'Neal looking to join:
The trio of Keri Jewett-Giles (1,065), Davion Wingate (1,051) and Nasrin Ulel (1,034) eclipsed the 1,000 point plateau in their NCAA careers in back-to-back-to-back games starting with Saint Francis on Nov. 22. They will be honored for their accomplishments prior to the team's next home game against Central Connecticut State on Dec. 17. Additionally, Ashli O'Neal enters tonight's game just 60 points shy of becoming the fourth to achieve the mark.
Back-to-Back in the A-SUN:
Last Tuesday, graduate transfer guard Ashli O'Neal won her second straight ASUN newcomer of the week award, and she proceeded to pour in 15 points in the team's win over Houston on Wednesday. Furthermore, Keri Jewett-Giles was named the ASUN player of the week for the first time this season after dropping 12, 19 and 24 points in wins over Notre Dame, No. 20 USF and South Dakota State.
Raining Threes:
FGCU, which broke the NCAA's all-time record for most 3-pointers made in a season in 2017-18 with 431, is once again leading the nation in three of the four 3-point shooting categories. The only one they don't lead in is percentage, where they rank 79th nationally.
3-point field goals made
1. FGCU - 128
2. South Dakota - 94
3. DePaul - 93
4. Western Illinois - 91
5. Western Carolina - 87
Saint Mary's - 87
3-point field goals attempted
1. FGCU - 374
2. Western Carolina - 292
3. DePaul - 288
4. Western Illinois - 285
5. Harvard - 258
3-point field goals made per game
1. FGCU - 12.8
2. DePaul - 11.6
3. Saint Mary's - 10.9
4. High Point - 10.7
5. Abilene Christian - 10.6
Oregon - 10.6
NCAA Team Statistical Leaders (Top 50)
Assists - 16th, 155
Scoring margin - 28th, 19.7
Scoring offense - 23rd, 78.8
Steals - 11th, 109
Steals/game - 39th, 10.9
Turnovers forced - 26th, 21.70
Win-loss percentage - 17th, .900
Assist/turnover ratio
1. Oregon - 1.98
2. Northwestern - 1.69
3. Penn - 1.66
4. UCLA - 1.61
5. DePaul - 1.57
6. Creighton - 1.55
7. Baylor - 1.50
8. Loyola Chicago - 1.47
9. FGCU - 1.45
Maryland - 1.45
Fewest Turnovers Per Game
1. Creighton - 9.5
2. Arkansas - 10.7
FGCU - 10.7
4. Colorado State - 10.8
5. Minnesota - 11.0
Turnover Margin
1. Mississippi State - 12.22
2. Maryland - 11.22
3. FGCU - 11.00
East Carolina - 11.00
5. Minnesota - 10.71
NCAA Individual Statistical Leaders (Top 50)
Defensive rebounds/game - Tytionia Adderly (27th, 7.4)
Field goal attempts - Keri Jewett-Giles (47th, 130)
Field goals made - Davion Wingate (17th, 65)
Field goal percentage - Davion Wingate (25th, .613)
Total points - Davion Wingate (20th, 173), Keri Jewett-Giles (45th, 154)
Free throw percentage - Ashli O'Neal (22nd, .903)
Total rebounds - Tytionia Adderly (11th, 101)
Rebounds/game - Tytionia Adderly (37th, 10.1)
3-point field goals attempted - Nasrin Ulel (19th, 71), Keri Jewett-Giles (48th, 61)
3-point field goals made - Keri Jewett-Giles (26th, 25)
3-point field goal percentage - Davion Wingate (40th, .468)
Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=280886
ESPN+ Link: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=d938c9dd-51ed-440b-8a59-93cb756c07a0
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