By Nathan Deen
Published on January 8, 2008
PJC women’s basketball head coach Chanda Rigby said she wanted to experiment with her bench players by giving them a significant amount of playing time in Saturday’s 72-42 win over North Florida. She may well have found a new contributor and go-to player. Center Latoya Thomas scored a season high 20 points, shot 9-13 from the field and grabbed 8 rebounds.
The Lady Pirates played a sloppy, turnover riddled first half but defensively they held North Florida to just 14 points. They jumped out to a quick 13-2 start within the first seven minutes of play and built up a 19 point lead going into the locker room. They played the second half much more efficiently by shooting higher percentage shots and minimizing turnovers. They finished the game with a 42 percent field goal percentage and a total of 18 assists.
It didn’t really appear to matter how poorly the Lady Pirates played offensively because defensively they held North Florida to just a 19 percent field goal percentage (1/12 from the perimeter), and a staggering low four assists. They also out-rebounded the Lady Sentinels 47-29.
Freshman Jasmine Sheppard led North Florida with 15 points (8/8 FT) followed by Natasha Mitchell with 8 points.
Next to Thomas, Victoria Hunt finished with 12 points followed by Channa Willis with 10 points. Joleah Pierce had a team high 6 assists.
The Lady Pirates will play Tallahassee Community College at home on Wednesday night. Tip-off at 5:30.
