Titan Women Qualify for Postseason

Eastern Florida's women's basketball team has qualified for the NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament.

The Titans 81-63 victory at St. Petersburg College on Tuesday gave the Titans their second tournament berth in two seasons.

The defending champion Titans, ranked fourth in Florida, sit atop the FCSAA Southern Conference with an 11-1 record with three games remaining. Broward College is second at 10-2.

The Titans have beaten Broward twice this season giving them the tiebreaker for first place should the teams finish with identical records. The top two teams advance to the tournament.

Miami Dade College is third in conference at 5-6; Palm Beach State fourth at 5-7; Indian River State fifth at 2-9 and St. Petersburg sixth at 2-10.

The Titans host Miami Dade at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus. The game will be telecast live on WEFS-TV and streamed at www.efsctitans.com/webcast. The teams split their first two games.

Eastern Florida visits Broward on Feb. 17 and completes the regular season at home on Feb. 20 against Indian River.

 "Qualifying for the tournament was a goal of ours," said Eastern Florida head coach Jim Grimes. "We've achieved it and we'll acknowledge it. But we've still got three games to play to realize another goal which was to repeat as conference champions.

"The players have worked hard all season to get to where we are but they realize work remains once we get to Ocala for the tournament.

'It's still one possession, one quarter, one half and one game at a time."

The Titans, who are 18-8 overall, are riding the wave of sophomores Nene Johnson and Paola Vasquez who each are averaging 14.1 points per game; sophomore Crystal Townsend (11.6 points and 7.9 rebounds) and Emma Grimes (9.3 points).

Freshmen Trudy Walker (9.2 points and 9.3 rebounds) and Kienya Jones (8.2 points, 6.3 rebounds) have been forces inside.

Johnson is averaging 5.5 assists per game and Vasquez two steals.

The Titans rank seventh nationally in three-pointers per game at nine. Vasquez is seventh nationally with 80 three-pointers.

"Our first six players have been productive for sure," Grimes said. "But we play all 10 players every game. Everyone has contributed in games and especially in practice where everyone works to make everyone else better. It's truly a team effort."

The Titans appearance in last year's tournament was Grimes' first as head coach and the team's first since 2002. The Titans lost in the first round.