Women's basketball team opens conference season Wednesday at home
The Eastern Florida State College women's basketball team will be back at Titan Field House Wednesday evening for their Central Conference opener.
The Titans come into Wednesday's game ranked 25th in the latest NJCAA Division I poll and are off to one of their best starts under head coach MJ Baker at 13-3.
A win against Santa Fe College Wednesday night would give them their best start under Baker. It won't be easy as Santa Fe comes into the contest 8-6 on the season. The Titans have won four in a row against the Saints and are 7-2 in the series the past four seasons.
The game will feature the two top rebounders in the state as Eastern Florida's Rapuluchi Ngorka is averaging 12.8 rebounds per game while Santa Fe's Aleisha Curry is averaging 11.7. Both players are also leading their team in scoring this season as Ngorka is averaging 15.4 points per game while Curry averages 16.5.
The Titans come into the conference season averaging 75.2 points per game which is in the top five in the state as Ngorka, Shadaria Smith, Kaitlyn Sanders and L'or Eyeba Mputu are all averaging at least 10 points a game.
"The team has just scratched their potential and truly will only get better. With only two returners who played last season, there is still more time needed to be our best, but we are grinding and getting better every day," Eastern Florida State College women's basketball coach M.J. Baker said. "I cannot wait to see this team peak and just praying for the right timing."
Wednesday night's game is the first of 12 conference games for the Titans who will battle defending conference champion St. Petersburg, Daytona State College, Santa Fe and the Florida State College at Jacksonville for the Central Conference title.
"Every year our conference is very challenging with loads of talent and well-coached teams. We have to focus on one game at a time and continue to get 1 percent better each day," Baker said. "We have already faced so much adversity this season without our full roster for any games so far but the beautiful thing about this team is that they have the next man up mentality along with the willingness to do whatever it takes. The depth, commitment, selflessness and love. For each other creates an x factor in competition."
Wednesday's game will tip off at 5:30 p.m. with the men's game to follow at 7:30 p.m. Admission to Titan Field House is free and you can watch Wednesday night's game live online at EFSC Titans YouTube page.