PENSACOLA DEFEATS SANTA FE, 91-66

December 29, 2009

December 29, 2009

Contact: Scott Jamison 352-395-5616 scott.jamison@sfcollege.edu

SF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

PENSACOLA DEFEATS SANTA FE, 91-66

Gainesville, FL – Pensacola Junior College (14-1) point guard Jessica Merritt scored 18 first half points to pace the Pirates to a victory over the Santa Fe Saints (9-4) on Tuesday night in the first day of the Best Western Gateway Grand Classic.

"I was proud of our effort over the first six or seven minutes," said Coach Chanda Stebbins. "We didn't match that the rest of the game and it hurt us. Pensacola is a very good team and we gave them too many opportunities early on with missed free throws and missed layups."

The Saints struggled shooting the ball in the first half, making only 11-of-32 shots and were only 5-of-14 from the free throw line to fall behind at halftime 39-29. A bright spot in the first half was that SF held Deanna Allen, the leading scorer in the nation, to just six points.

"Demisha [Mills] and Tracie [Sneed] (pictured) did a nice job on Allen in the first half," said Stebbins. "She was able to get 12 in the second half, but a player of her caliber is going to get her points."

PJC, the #8 ranked team in country, came out of the gates strong in the second half, building the lead to 21 with 15 minutes to go and didn't look back from there, outscoring SF 52-37 in the second period in route to the 91-66 victory.

Tracie Sneed led the Saints in scoring with 17 points and Lanita Bartley, Letiecia Davenport and India Johnson each scored 10.

The Saints will continue in the Best Western Gateway Grand Classic tomorrow when they take on the nation's #1 team, Gulf Coast CC at 4:00pm. Daytona State College and Pensacola JC play at 2:00pm.

For complete schedules and more information on Saints Basketball, please visit santafesaints.com. To see game photos and other updates, follow Santa Fe College Athletics on Facebook.

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