FSCJ women’s basketball drops opening game in Thanksgiving Classic

The Florida State College at Jacksonville women's basketball program hosted it's second tournament of the season Nov 17-18^th with their first annual "Thanksgiving Classic".

Conference foe and NJCAA Division 2 Region 8 champions, Palm Beach State College participated along with two visiting out of state teams. Catawba Valley Community College, an NJCAA D2 program traveled from North Carolina, while Spartanburg Methodist College, a NJCAA DI program made the trek from South Carolina to compete.

The BlueWave would open the tournament facing a tough experienced Spartanburg Methodist College Friday evening. The Pioneers of SMC held the deepest returning roster of the tournament with nine players having played together last season. The chemistry showed quickly when the young FSCJ team hit the court and Spartanburg went to work. SMC won the tip, but freshman point guard Tanaujeah Brown came away with a steal. Unable to convert and turning the ball over, the Pioneers transitioned quickly and Brown blocked the layup to stop the action. Travonda Jackson would then get her hand on the ball and FSCJ came up with the steal. A three-point shot would fall short for FSCJ guard Ameera Nayani and SMC would transition to hit a three in return to start the game off. Poor offensive execution, defensive errors and fouls found a stunned FSCJ team rapidly down 20-11 as the horn sounded to end the first quarter.

The start of the second quarter found FSCJ continuing their first quarter errors with two turnovers and two fouls committed within minutes. As FSCJ's nerves began to calm and they settled in to the flow of the game, an 14-18 effort shortened the SMC lead. Now down 25-39 headed into the locker room, FSCJ knew they were beating themselves with unforced errors and missed scoring opportunities.

The third quarter began and FSCJ was back to battle. Trading bucket for bucket to start the game, Lucia Caballero knocked down a three from the top the key to spark her team. Kyra Frazine would put the ball on the floor and attack baseline contributing eight points in the quarter. With two minutes left in play, Tanaujeah Brown's one on one for a pull up jumper would buckle her knee and she would leave the game in the third quarter recording 13 points. Janay Demmitt, who was recently cleared from a preseason concussion, would make her first appearance this season in her place. A few short minutes later, the quarter came to an end and FSCJ still found themselves down short despite the 26-28 effort .

The fourth quarter found FSCJ struggling to convert making it impossible to catch the Pioneers of SMC. Another 10-17 quarter deficit helped to extend Spartanburg's lead to close out the game 84-61.

Kyra Frazine led all scorers with 16 points, five rebounds, two steals. Tanaujeah Brown contributed 13 points, two rebounds, two steals and two assists and teammate Janay Demmitt added 12 points, three assists and three steals.