1/8/21
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College Women's Basketball team finally gets back on the hardwood this weekend, when the Falcons play host to the ASA College Brooklyn Avengers on Saturday, January 8^th. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00pm ET at the Lackawanna Student Union in Scranton, PA. The game will be video streamed live on the Falcons YouTube channel.
 
About The Falcons
The Falcons (4-4) had their three game winning streak snapped in their last contest, on Saturday, December 18^th, when they fell in a road contest at CCBC-Catonsville by the score of 84-77. The Cardinals led almost wire-to-wire in the game, and held a 27-point advantage late in the third quarter, before Lackawanna College closed on a 23-2 run to pull within two scores at 63-57 early in the fourth quarter. The Falcons made one last push to get within five at 80-75 with 90 seconds to play, but ran out of gas, unable to close in any further. Nya Morris led the Falcons with a season-high 37 points, going 12-for-13 from the free throw line, while Ashanté Amos added 14 points. The Falcons hit a season-high eleven three-pointers, but committed 31 turnovers, while shooting just 28% from the field through the first three quarters.
 
Morris is the team-leader at 20.7 points per game so far this year.  Her 37 points against CCBC-Catonsville was her season-high, and she did it while going 12-for-13 from the free throw line, and hitting 11 field goals in the contest. Morris has scored in double-figures in all seven of her appearances this year. Morris won her second EPAC Player of the Week award for her efforts against Catonsville and Raritan Valley, scoring 59 points, shooting 17-for-36, and going 21-for-26 from the free throw line in both games. Morris also leads the team with 2.6 steals per game, averages 6.6 rebounds per game as a guard, and is hitting on 47% of her shots this year. Morris has hit 12 three-point shots on the year, most on the squad. Gabrielle Jackson is second on the team with 12.9 points per game. She has scored double-figures in six of eight games this year, including her season-high 21 against Union County College. Jackson averages a team-high 3.9 assists per game, and averages 4.6 rebounds per game as a guard. Jackson scored a season-low four points against CCBC-Catonsville, shooting just 1-for-10 for the game, but she had seven assists for the Falcons.   
 
Thays Torres is third on the team in scoring, averaging 7.1 points per game this year. Thays's ten points against Raritan was the second time she hit double-figures this year, with her season-high of 13 points coming against Niagara County CC earlier this season. Torres is averaging an even six rebounds per game, and is third on the team with eight steals this year. Torres scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds against Catonsville.
 
Ashanté Amos is tied with Torres at 7.1 points per game this year. Amos hit her season-high with the 14 points she scored against Catonsville. It was the third time she went above double-figures on the year. She made a season-high four three-point shots, and had a season-high four steals for the Falcons. Amos is third on the team is assists (2.6) and is tied for second on the team with McKeyah Duley with 11 made three-point shots.
 
Duley is the fifth leading scorer, averaging 7.0 points per game this season. Her nine-point performance against Catonsville was the first time in three games that she had scored more than four points. Duley had a season-high 25 points in a loss to Essex CC earlier this year, where she hit a season-high four three-pointers. She also pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in the contest with Essex. Duley averages just shy of six rebounds per game, and pulled down 12 boards against Catonsville.
 
Daeja Cromartie will also see significant time for the Falcons. The veteran leader is averaging 6.4 points per game, thanks in part to her season-high 18 points against Delaware Tech, where she went 9-for-10 from the floor. Daeja had a team-high 12 rebounds against Northampton, and fell just two points shy of her first double-double of the season. Daeja had just two points against Catonsville in her last game. Cromartie is shooting an efficient 63.6% on the year, and is averaging 5.7 rebounds per game this year.
 
Lackawanna College is shooting at 38.7% as a team this season, and has hit 29.5% from beyond-the-arc. Lackawanna is also shooting at 62.5% from the free-throw line. Lackawanna College holds a +4 rebounding margin, and has 39 blocks as a team. The Falcons are holding their opponents to 34.5% shooting so far this year, and teams have only hit 21.2% of their three-point attempts against the Lackawanna College defense, ranking the Falcons 16^th in the NJCAA out of teams that have played at least five games. 
 
Head Coach Joya Whittington enters her eighth season at the helm for the Falcons, winning three district championships and making three NJCAA National Tournament appearances, all within the last five seasons. Whittington is a three-time District Coach of the Year, and has won 153 games in her coaching career at Lackawanna College. Whittington is a Seton Hill University graduate, and a Carbondale, PA native, where she played for Carbondale Area HS.
 
About the Opponents
ASA College Brooklyn enters the contest at 2-6 overall on the year, and, similar to Lackawanna College, last played on Saturday, December 18^th. The last game for the Avengers that day was a 70-57 loss to Raritan Valley on the road. Raritan scored 27 points in the first quarter, racing to a 12-point lead, which they would hold into halftime, and then expand to 60-42 after three quarters. The Avengers shot 30% from the field for the contest, and put a pair of players in double-figures. Destiny Bradshaw had a team-high 18 points, to go with 14 rebounds, while Jae'oni Davis scored 11 points. Idalis Lee, despite a tough 2-for-20 shooting performance, still managed to score seven points, and helped her team elsewhere, pulling down a team-high 16 rebounds and dishing out nine assists for ASA. The Lions were slightly more efficient, shooting 36% from the field, and got three players in double-figures for the contest.
 
ASA Brooklyn averages 53.3 points per game, while giving up 61.8 on the year. The Avengers are hitting just 32% of their shots on the season, while their opponents are averaging around 38%. Brooklyn's three-point shooting is around 22% for the year, and they average around 19 turnovers per game this season. ASA Brooklyn does hold a +5 rebound margin against their opponents, including over 14 offensive rebounds per game.   
 
Idalis Lee is the lone Avenger in double-figures, averaging a team-high 13.4 points per game this year. The game against Raritan was the first time she didn't reach double-figures in seven games this year. Lee's season-high is a 19-point performance against Five Towns College, where she was 9-for-10 from the charity stripe, and pulled down 14 rebounds. That's where Lee really makes an impact, as she also averages a team-high 10.1 rebounds per game, and has three double-doubles on the season. Her 16 rebounds against Raritan Valley was her season-high in that department, as was her nine assists. Lee leads the Avengers with 4.6 assists per game, and is also the team-leader in blocks per game at 1.7. For good measure, Lee is second on the team in steals per game, at just shy of two per contest.
 
Shaelela Jeffreys is the second-leading scorer at 8.1 points per game this year. Jeffreys is a 58% free throw shooter, best on the team, and her 1.5 blocks per game places her second on the squad.  She's hit double-figures twice this season, and has a season-high of 11 points, which she got against Hostos Community College. She has hit her season-high in rebounds at eight in her last two games. Jeffreys had an eight-point, eight-rebound performance against Raritan. She also blocked three shots against the Lions, the third time she's had three blocks in one game this year.
 
Destiny Bradshaw and Shantika Williams are third and fourth in scoring at 7.8 and 7.6 points per game, respectively. Bradshaw is second on the team at 6.6 rebounds per game, and averages a steal per game this year. She's come on as of late, scoring double-figures in three of her last five games, including her season-high 18 points against Raritan Valley. She also managed a double-double against the Lions, grabbing a season-high 14 rebounds. Williams is the team-leader at 2.5 steals per game, and is second on the team in assists per game at 2.1 this year. Similar to Bradshaw, Williams has hit double-figures in three of her last five games, and also has a season-high of 18 points, which came against Five Towns College. Williams also had a season-high eight rebounds in that contest. She's recorded four steals on three separate occasions this year.
 
The head coach for ASA College Brooklyn is Carl Isidore, in his first season at the helm of the Avengers. Isidore has been a fixture on the junior college basketball scene in New York in various capacities. He served as an assistant at his alma mater, TCI College of Technology, and at the Globe Institute of Technology for a number of years, before joining the Monroe College Mustangs staff as an assistant for the '16-'17 season. At Monroe, he helped the Mustangs go 21-7, win the Region XV and District 3 tournaments, and make an appearance at the NJCAA national tournament. Isidore became the first head coach of the Monroe College Bronx Express in 2017, and would lead the Express for two years, posting 19 wins in his time there, including a Region XV tournament semi-final appearance. Isidore then joined the ASA-Brooklyn staff for the '19-'20 season, and was an assistant through the pandemic before taking over as the head coach this year. Isidore is 21-44 in his career as a head coach in the NJCAA.    
 
Game Information
The match-up is set for a 2:00pm ET tip-off at the Lackawanna Student Union in Scranton, PA on Saturday, January 8^th. The game will be video live-streamed on the Lackawanna College YouTube channel, with Steve Young providing the play-by-play. You can watch along via the link HERE.
 
The Falcons will next host the Monroe College Bronx Express on Tuesday, January 11^th, in the Lackawanna Student Union in Scranton, PA. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00pm ET.