University of the District of Columbia Women’s Basketball Earns No. 23 Ranking in USA Today ESPN Top-25 Coaches’ Poll
USA Today ESPN Top-25 Coaches Poll
WASHINGTON, DC – The University of the District of Columbia women's basketball team has earned a No. 23 ranking in the latest USA Today ESPN Division II Top-25 Coaches' Poll released on February 7th, 2012. This is the program's first top-25 national ranking since March 3rd, 2009.
The Firebirds, led by head coach Lester L. Butler, Jr., are 17-3 overall and 8-2 in the East Coast Conference heading into a conference road game at NYIT on Wednesday, February 8th at 4:50 p.m. District of Columbia has won its last seven straight games by an average margin of 13.1. The Firebirds also started the season with a seven-game win-streak during which they beat last year's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference champion, Goldey-Beacom College and then No. 18 ranked, Holy Family University.
"This is a great honor to be recognized as one of the top-25 teams in the country," Butler said. "The ladies have worked extremely hard all season, and it goes to show hard work pays off. I hope we can continue to play well the rest of the season."
District of Columbia features a tenacious defense which ranks 11th in the nation for steals per-game. Seven different players on the squad have over 20 steals, including senior guard Lauren Brittingham (Washington, DC – Potomac HS) with 43.
Brittingham has emerged as the team's leader in the absence of the ECC leading scorer (18.2 ppg), Jamilia Bonner (Mobile, AL – Williamson HS), who suffered a season-ending ACL injury on January 7th at Dowling. During the current seven-game win-streak, Brittingham has averaged 18.1 points and 5.7 assists per-game. Senior forward Dohnay Banice (Wilmington, DE – Williamson HS) has also come on strong during this stretch, registering 13.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per-game.
Butler has also seen great production from his bench, particularly from sophomore guard Julissa Anderson (Greensboro, NC – Southeast Guilford HS) and freshman guard/forward Denikka Brent (Chesapeake, VA – Booker T. Washington HS). Anderson recently scored a season-high 12 points in a UDC win over STAC, and Brent registered 12 points and six rebounds in a win over Queens last Saturday en-route to a ECC rookie of the week honor.
The No. 23 ranked Firebirds will look to extend their seven-game win-streak at Recreation Hall tomorrow as they visit league foe NYIT. Tip-off is at 4:50, and there will be a live audio feed with play-by-play by Eli Pearlstein via udcfirebirds.com.