By Nathan Deen
Published on November 21, 2007
The PJC women’s basketball team played a very aggressive defensive game on Friday night in a 63-41 win over Cleveland State (Tenn.) during the Nova Care Classic. The Lady Pirates held Cleveland State to a mere 28 percent field goal percentage and dominated the boards with 44 rebounds (17 offensive) to just 21 for the Lady Cougars.
“We did a poor job of shooting the ball,” said Cleveland State head coach Dan Lumpkin. “We never could get into our game.”
PJC led throughout the game and was able to maintain a double-digit lead most of the time. Cleveland State struggled to get back on defense early as PJC made several easy transition field goals. PJC went on an 8-0 run midway through the first half to pull ahead by ten points and led at halftime by a score of 31-20.
The beginning of the second half looked as if Cleveland State had a chance to get back into the game as PJC committed three early turnovers. However, the Lady Cougars were not able to build off of any momentum gained by the 3-pointer made by sophomore Barbara Holland, who led Cleveland State with 8 points. PJC used their aggressive defense and overpowering post game to slowly pull away.
“We forced them into a lot of bad shots,” said PJC head coach Chanda Rigby. Rigby said that this was the second game in which she tried a new zone pressure defensive scheme and it has paid off both times. Cleveland State averaged 76 points per game going into Friday’s contest.
The Lady Pirates played unselfish basketball throughout, tallying a total of 15 assists. 11 out of 13 players on PJC’s roster scored at least once in the game and 10 players grabbed at least one rebound. Sophomore Victoria Hunt led the team in scoring and also grabbed 6 rebounds. Freshman Nikel White scored 10 points and also had 6 rebounds. Freshman Geneshia Dunbar had 6 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Four other players scored 6 points. Freshman Kenyatta Gill suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury, possibly severe, and had to be carried off the court.
PJC will play their second game of the Nova Care Classic Saturday night against Gadston State Community College. Tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.