LaQuanda Brandon Leads UDC Scoring to Hand Puerto Rico-Bayamon, 71-61, Defeat

St. Augustine, FL: March 6, 2009—The 20th ranked University of the District of Columbia Firebirds Women’s Basketball Team concluded their 2009 appearance in the Independent Women’s Basketball Tournament with a, 71-61, defeat of the University of Puerto Rico-Bayamon, tonight, in St. Augustine, Florida at the Flagler College Gymnasium.  It was the second consecutive win for the Firebirds in the Tournament, after defeating Flagler College on Thursday night.

Senior guard LaQuanda Brandon (Washington, DC) paced the Firebirds to the win scoring 20 points, grabbing two rebounds and dishing out two assists. Brandon scored 12 of her points in the second half, igniting the Firebirds surge to the win. Senior guard Deyshia Williams (Camden, NJ) was the second leading UDC scorer, pumping in 19 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Stacy Griffith, a freshman forward from Fredericksburg, Virginia added a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.

UDC out rebounded UPR-B 47 to 20, outscored them in the paint 40 to 26, and converted more second chance points (30 to 5). UDC also held the advantage in points scored off turnovers, 34 to 21.

Puerto Rico-Bayamon went into the break with a 33-29 lead on 42 percent (10-24) shooting, compared to UDC’s 39 percent (11-28) shooting. UDC held the advantage in the second half scoring 56 percent (18-33) to UPR-B’s 53 percent (10-19), and leading 42-28.

UDC shot 48 percent (29-61) for the game, 17 percent (2-12) from beyond the arc, and 50 percent (11-22) from the charity stripe. LaQuanda Brandon and Lillian McGill (Sumter,SC) were named to the All-Tournament Team. McGill played sparingly tonight due to illness.

Angelie Morales scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Puerto Rico scoring, followed by Keisha Bachour with 10 points.

UDC improves their record to 24-4 for the season with this win, while Puerto Rico-Bayamon fell to 15-9.