February 13, 2020 – The Santa Fe Saints women’s basketball team clinched their second consecutive Mid-Florida Conference Championship with a convincing 75-43 win over Daytona State College Wednesday night in Daytona. SF has now won the title in three of the last four years.
“This was a great combined effort by our entire team,” said SF head coach Chanda Stebbins. “Awesome job by the team of executing on the defensive end and knowing the scouting report.”
The Saints held a slim 16-12 lead after the first quarter and took total control of the game on both ends of the floor in the second quarter to open up a 44-21 lead at the half.
The Saints defense forced 23 Falcon turnovers while turning the ball over just 10 times themselves. SF outscored the Falcons 19-0 on points off turnovers and outrebounded the home team 48-33.
Chardell Jones led four Saints in double figures with 17 points while Aleisha Curry netted 14, Rosalee Nicholson 12 and Teagan Rothrock 11. Curry also grabbed 11 rebounds to register her ninth double-double of the season.
“Curry continued to dominate around the basket and the emergence of Jones has helped her get better matchups,” said Stebbins. “The guards did a great job of getting our bigs touches.”
SF (17-10, 7-1 MFC) now hold a 1.5 game lead over Daytona State with the Saints having one conference game to play and the Falcons two. The Saints hold the tiebreaker by winning two of the three matchups between the two programs this year.
As MFC Champions the Saints will advance to the FCSAA State/NJCAA Region VIII Tournament to be held in Niceville, Fla. March 5 – 7. The Saints will play in the opening game of the women’s tournament against the Southern Conference runners-up.
The Saints, who have now won eight in a row, will return to Daytona to take on DME Academy in a non-conference game this Saturday and will finish up the regular season in Jacksonville against FSC-J Feb. 22.
For all SF athletics schedules, stats and more visit santafesaints.com.