The FSCJ BlueWave women's basketball team took to the road for a two trip to the east coast to face competition from the Suncoast Conference, Hillsborough Community College and St. Petersburg College.
The first match-up would pit the BlueWave against the Hawks of Hillsborough Community College. It came down to the end for Florida State College at Jacksonville women's basketball as Hillsborough escaped with the 64-61 win on Friday. The Bluewave controlled the game from the tip with great team defenseand it would be one of their best games of the season leading for three quarters. It came down to the wire when Valicia Demeritte was charged with an offensive foul in the 4th quarter that woud have given the Bluewave a little breathing room to potentially seal the game. However, the Hawks would take the lead and win the game despite the efforts of BlueWave's Kaya Bell taking the final shot in hopes to tie the game at the end of regulation. "This didn't end the way we wanted, but I'm so proud of how much this group has grown as players and young women" stated David Lowery, FSCJ's women's basketball coach. "We are moving in the right direction." Valicia Demeritte led all scorers with 16 points.
The BlueWave would travel across town to face the Titans of St. Petersburg College in day two of action. FSCJ women wasted no time from the tip and played a gritty first quarter going back and forth with the Titans. FSCJ would win the first quarter 17-16. The second quarter saw the Titans go on a 10-0 run mid 2nd quarter that would be costly to the BlueWave. FSCJ wouldn't back down and battled back within seven going into halftime, 37-30.
The third quarter was a story of trading bucket for buckets, but the BlueWaves defense would struggle to get stops in order to get within striking distance of St. Petersburg. The Titans would take advantage and widen the gap going on a 27-17 run bringing the score to 64-47 to end the third. The fourth quarter action would die down a bit from both teams but SPC Titans margin was too much for the BlueWave to recover from and they would drop game two to St. Pete 81-58.
Sophomore guard Joseline Ramos had a game high 16 points in the game. Teammate Rhykeria Rolland finished with 10 points.