Commodores eliminate CF women for 2nd year in a row – Ocala

By Richard Burton Correspondent

The College of Central Florida women's basketball team couldn't keep up with defending national champion Gulf Coast State on Wednesday evening.

The Commodores set a single game tournament record with 15 made shots from 3-point range and knocked off the Patriots 90-51 in the FCSAA/NJCAA women's basketball tournament quarterfinals at Patriot Gym.

Gulf Coast passed its own tournament mark for most 3-pointers of 14 set in 2008 against Hillsborough.

For the game, Gulf Coast made 15-of-34 shots from beyond the arc, 12-of-24 in the first half.

It was the second year in a row that the Patriots were eliminated from the tournament in the opening round by Gulf Coast (28-3).

The loss ended a strong season-ending run by CF, who bounced back from a 0-4 start in Mid-Florida Conference play to win nine of its last 11 games to qualify for the postseason for the third consecutive season.

"Our kids battled hard with their backs against the wall to get to the tournament," CF Coach Tommy Jones said. "Obviously, we are disappointed with the result (on Wednesday), but to come from where we were to get here says a lot about how hard our girls worked to come from last place to the postseason."

The Patriots (14-16) ran into a buzzsaw on Wednesday, as the Commodores raced out to a 26-point halftime lead.

"They did what they are supposed to do and that's why they are the third-ranked team in the country," Jones said. "We're going to go back and keep working. We'll get it back to where we had it in the past. CF deserves better and I will make it better."

The Commodores made six shots from beyond the arc in each of the opening two quarters and also had their reserves outscore CF's 28-5 during that span.

In the early going, the Patriots trailed 5-4, but quickly fell down by double digits after an early surge by Taylor Emery, who scored her team's first 13 points, to push the Commodores to an 11-point edge just 4:08 into the game.

From there, Gulf Coast took a 16-point lead after a quarter of play and continued the onslaught.

The defeat was CF's sixth straight in the state tournament against Panhandle Conference schools dating back to 2008.

Fernanda Midaglia scored 10 of her 16 points in the first half to lead CF.

Nicola Mathews and Marcella dos Santos scored nine points each for the Patriots, while Kiarah Mallory dished out eight assists.

Emery led Gulf Coast with 23 points.

Shayla Bennett finished with 21 points for the Commodores, while LaSonja Edwards and Maria Castro scored 14 and 12 points respectively.

---- ----

JUCO BASKETBALL

FCSAA State Basketball Championships

At The College of Central Florida

WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

Wednesday's results

Gulf Coast 90, Central Florida 51

Santa Fe 85, Broward 79

Chipola 66, Florida Southwestern 36

Tallahassee vs. Palm Beach, late

Friday's games

Santa Fe vs. Chipola, 1 p.m.

Gulf Coast vs. Tallahassee/Palm Beach winner, 3 p.m.

Saturdays game

Championship game, 5 p.m.

MEN'S TOURNAMENT

Thursdays games

Broward vs. Daytona St., 1 p.m.

St. Petersburg vs. Tallahassee, 3 p.m.

Northwest Florida vs. Florida Southwestern, 6 p.m.

Eastern Florida vs. Central Florida, 8 p.m.

Fridays games

Semifinals: Broward/Daytona St. winner vs. St. Pete/Tallahassee winner, 6 p.m.

Northwest Florida/Florida Southwestern vs. Eastern Florida/Central Florida, 8 p.m.

Saturdays game

Championship game, 7:30 p.m.

See more here:

Commodores eliminate CF women for 2nd year in a row - Ocala