SF WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Gainesville, FL – With the Santa Fe Saints needing a victory to keep pace in the Mid-Florida Conference sophomore guard Tiara Thompson stepped up and poured in 26 points to pace SF to a 78-56 victory over Hillsborough CC. The win moves the Saints to 16-10 overall and 4-4 in the MFC, tied for second with Hillsborough (13-9, 4-4 MFC).
“Good win for us tonight against a solid Hillsborough team,” said SF Coach Chanda Stebbins. “This is the kind of effort we expect out of ourselves every game.”
Santa Fe jumped out to an early 15-8 lead just five minutes into the game but HCC answered and led by two with 9:27 left in the first half. From there it was all SF as the Saints went on a 24-2 run over the final nine minutes capped by six points from Shanice Clark and five from Thompson.
Hillsborough fought back in the second to close the gap to 13 but 10 straight points by the Saints capped by a layup from Paulina Zaveckaite made the lead 71-48. The Hawks scored on the ensuing possession but Thompson ended any chance of a rally with back to back three pointers to put the nail in the coffin.
Santa Fe outrebounded the Hawks 47-34 and finished with a season high 23 assists.
“We really did a good job boxing out tonight and fought for loose balls under the basket,” said Stebbins. “Those are a few of the little things that can be the difference in a game.”
Thompson led all scorers with 26 points and added six rebounds, Paulina Zaveckiate had 11 points and 12 rebounds, Monique Bunk had nine points and 11 assists and Miracle Watts scored eight points to go with seven assists.
“I thought Monique and Miracle did a very nice job distributing the ball tonight,” said Stebbins. “We played unselfish and our point guards put us in position for quality shots that we were able to knock down a majority of the time.”
The Saints head on the road Saturday to battle MFC leaders Florida State College-Jacksonville at 4:00 PM. Fans can watch the game live on www.psblive.com.
For complete schedules and more information on Women’s Basketball, please visit www.sfcollege.edu/athletics. To see game photos and other updates, follow Santa Fe College Athletics on Facebook.
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