Women's Basketball Ranked #14 In Latest NJCAA Poll
In the midst of their best start as a NJCAA DII program, the Lady Panthers Women's Basketball team has been entered the NJCAA National Poll at #19. The Lady Panthers are 6-0 on the season so far, with 3 wins over NJCAA DI programs (St. Petersburg, Indian River, and Spartanburg Methodist) and 3 wins over NJCAA DII programs (Bay College, Ellsworth, and Catawba Valley).
The Lady Panthers have been proving that defense wins games. The Lady Panthers are holding their opponents to only 54.8 points per game, only allowing them to shoot 31.8% from the floor and 28% from 3 point range, and also forcing 24.8 turnovers a game. Offensively, this Lady Panthers team is well balanced. Thru 6 games, 5 different Panthers have been the leading scorer. Ashley Thornton has been pacing the Lady Panthers averaging 15 points per game to go with 4 assists. Savannah McAfee has proven to be effective either starting or coming off the bench with 3 double-doubles in the first 6 games. Taylor Blackshear is averaging 10.5 points and 5 steals a game. Leah Jessup is averaging 8.8 points after leading the team with 20 in their win vs Spartanburg Methodist. Keri Cooper is picking up where she left off defensively and is averaging 3.6 blocks per game.
Schedule does not get any easier for the Lady Panthers as they travel to St. Petersburg on November 21st, take a trip to Union County College (NJ) December 1-2 to take on nationally ranked CCBC-Essex and Essex County College. A road trip to Hillsborough follows on December 8th before the Lady Panthers play 4 games in 4 days as part of the Panther Holiday Classic as they take on Wayne County (Dec. 15), North Central Missouri (Dec. 16), Lewis & Clark (Dec. 17) and finally Lake Land College (Dec. 18).
All Lady Panther home games are streamed on their YouTube page. Please follow their X/Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
