BALTIMORE – It appeared the weather was going to cancel the first non-conference matchup between the Lady Panthers and the Lady Avengers of ASA on Saturday; however, BCCC weathered the storm by beating ASA 78-58.
Baltimore City Community College Lady Panthers (17-0; 11-0 MD JUCO Conference) extended their undefeated season and is on its way to take the regular season conference crown if they win their final three games.
“We learned a lot about our selves in this game,” said head coach Renard Smith. “As a team we have to select our shots better and set up our offense more affectively.” “The team missed way too many shots from the field and that has to change now.” “It will only get harder at this point.” “We have three more games left in the season and we play the top two teams in our conference in Prince George's and Allegany along with a non-conference matchup against Northern Virginia.” “Our team has beat Northern Virginia twice thus far but always play us tough and they are well coached.”
The Lady Panther shot a season low 34% (24-70) from the field and was 27% (5-18) from the three-point line. Even though the team turned out a bad shooting performance, they were able to maintain their national and state leading performance in defense. Freshman Denisha Haywood (Forest Park/Baltimore, MD) led the charge with eight blocks along with eight points and 15 rebounds.
Freshman guards Tanira McClurkin (St. Frances/Baltimore, MD) finished the game with a double-double 14 points, 14 assists and six steals and Ciara Lucas (Old Mill/Baltimore, MD) ended with 12 points, six rebounds and six steals.
Coming off the bench and providing another strong performance for the Lady Panthers was freshman forward Chanet Wallace (Edmondson/Baltimore, MD). Wallace completed the game leading the team in scoring with 16 points.
Next game for the Lady Panthers will be on Monday, February 8th when they play host to conference foe Prince George's Community College in the Athletic Center at 6 p.m.
In a non-conference game, BCCC beat Prince George's earlier this season on the road 70-44. The Lady Panthers with their number one defense in the country (NJCAA) was able to keep one player scoring in double figures. Freshman guards Lucas had a game high 23 points followed by McClurkin ending with 14 points.
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