Women's basketball team hits road for key conference game

Women's basketball team hits road for key conference game

The Eastern Florida State College women's basketball team will travel to St. Petersburg Saturday in a Central Conference matchup.

Eastern Florida State College comes into the matchup 20-3 overall and 7-0 in the conference and are ranked 18th in the latest NJCAA Division I poll. A win on Saturday would clinch the regular season title for the Titans.

It won't be easy as St. Petersburg is 3-2 in the conference and has won two straight games. The battle of Titans has been even as the series is 8-8 in the past 16 meetings and Eastern Florida State College is 3-6 in the past six seasons at St. Petersburg.

The duo of Brittany Wilcox and Megan Watson pace St. Petersburg, averaging 15 and 14 respectively. Teammate Isis Triplett is averaging 10 points per game.

Eastern Florida State College is second in Region VIII in points per game this season, averaging 76.7 points. And defensively, the team is fifth in the state, allowing just 58.6 points per game.

Freshman Rapuluchi Ngorka has recorded 13 double-doubles this season and is averaging double figures in both points and rebounds per game. The Madrid, Spain native is averaging 14.6 points and a Region VIII-leading 12.7 rebounds per game.

Freshman guard Shadaria Smith has scored 24 and 27 points in her past two games and has scored at least 11 points in six of the past seven games. Teammate L'or Eyeba Mputu is leading the state in field goal percentage, shooting 62 percent from the floor this season. The freshman forward is averaging 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds off the bench for the Titans.

Saturday's game will tip off at 2 p.m. in St. Petersburg.