St. Pete Hands SF Women Opening Game Loss, 79-67

November 3, 2011

November 3, 2011 Contact: Scott Jamison 352-395-5616 scott.jamison@sfcollege.edu

SF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

ST. PETE HANDS SAINTS OPENING GAME LOSS, 79-67

Gainesville, FL – The St. Petersburg College Titans came out firing early and never looked back in a win over the Santa Fe Saints on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

Stephenie Coney (pictured), Santa Fe's leading scorer a year ago, led SF scorers with 15 to go along with six assists. Raquitta Gooden, one of nine freshman making their debut for the Saints, pitched in 10 points and another freshman, Taybreanna Couch, had nine.

St. Pete jumped out early built a 38-25 half time lead on the strength of solid defense and points off turnovers.

"St. Pete is a very good, well coached team and they did a lot of good things tonight," said SF Coach Chanda Stebbins. "One thing I have been stressing to our players is playing with intensity on defense for forty minutes and that's something we will get better at as the season goes on."

The Titans continued to play well in the second half, stretching the lead to more than 20 with ten minutes to go.

Coney and the Saints refused to give in however and chipped away at the lead, taking it down to as little as 12. St. Pete buckled down and held the lead at 12, winning 79-67.

"Our players showed a lot of heart tonight by not giving in," said Stebbins. "We played well over the last eight minutes, but need to improve our offensive execution over an entire game."

The Saints continue in the Cabot Lodge Classic tomorrow evening, November 4 when they host Palm Beach State College at 6:00 PM.

"Palm Beach is another very talented team and will provide a great challenge for our team tomorrow night," said Stebbins.

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

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