St. Thomas has won 14 consecutive regular season games on its home court of the Fernandez Family Center
St. Thomas Women's Hoops off to Fast Start
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The St. Thomas women's basketball team, an NAIA National tournament participant last season, is off to a fast start to the 2012-13 season. This past weekend, the Bobcats improved to 4-0 with a 69-63 overtime win over Brewton Parker and a 85-80 win over Loyola (La.) at the Fernandez Family Center on the St. Thomas University campus. With the two wins, St. Thomas extended its regular-season home winning streak to 14 games dating back to last season.
Five Bobcat players scored in double-figures against Loyola with junior
Dannisha Pierce leading the way with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field. Junior guard
Antonella Marino scored 16 points, highlighted by 10-11 shooting from the free throw line. Freshman guard
Jessica Montalvo scored 13 points, while juniors
Berna Miranda and
Joselyn Ostrout each had 12 points.
The Bobcats fell behind early and trailed at halftime 39-36, before outscoring Loyola 49-41 in the second half, shooting 47% in the final period. The Bobcat defense forced 17 Loyola turnovers, while offensively STU protected the ball with only five turnovers in the contest.
On Friday night, St. Thomas won an overtime thriller, 69-63 over visiting Brewton-Parker in STU's home opener at the Fernandez Family Center. The Bobcats came from behind to tie the game 59-59 with a three-pointer by
Meghan Gavin at the end of regulation. STU would go on to outscore Brewton-Parker 10-4 in overtime en route to the win.
On Friday night, the Bobcats were again led by Pierce who scored 20 points.
Constina Cousins scored 15 points and
Shanika Brooks had ten.
The Bobcats opened their season with two resounding wins at a preseason invitational in Jacksonville, Fla., October 26-27. In its season-opener, STU defeated Sun Conference member Johnson & Wales, 76-50 in a game that does not count toward conference records. Cousins led all scorers vs. Johnson & Wales with 28 points.
In game two in Jacksonville, the Bobcats trounced Bob Jones University, 86-28 led by a career-high 29 points by Brooks.
Through four games, the Bobcats are led statistically by Pierce (16.5 ppg. 7.3 rg) and Cousins (13.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 4 blocks). Brooks (10.3 ppg, nine 3PM) is also averaging double-digit points, while leading the team in three-pointers. Sakers (7.3 rpg) is tied with Pierce for the team lead in rebounds, while Marino (4.75 spg) leads the team in steals. Miranda (4.0 apg), coming off a career-high six assists vs. Loyola, leads the team in assists.
St. Thomas returns to action on Wednesday with a home game against Mayaguez at 7 p.m. at the Fernandez Family Center.
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