EFSC Women Win Southern Conference Championship
By Mark DeCotis, Eastern Florida // February 23, 2015
first championship since 2002
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Eastern Florida’s women’s basketball team is the Florida College System Activities Association Southern Conference champion.
Eastern Florida won the title Sunday night, its first since 2002, as third-place Miami Dade College beat second-place St. Petersburg College 93-92 in overtime in Kendall.
The defeat dropped St. Petersburg to 10-4 in the conference with one game to play, eliminating it from title contention and giving the championship to Eastern Florida, which is 12-2.
Miami Dade improved to 9-5 in the conference.
Eastern Florida concludes the regular season at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Palm Beach State College (5-9) in Lake Worth.
The Titans will then prepare for the FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Tournament at the College of Central Florida in Ocala where they will be joined by St. Petersburg, Miami Dade and five more teams from the state’s other two conferences.
The Titans open tournament play at 8 p.m. Wednesday March 4, against the third-place team from the Panhandle Conference.
The tournament appearance is the first for the Titans since 2003.
The Eastern Florida team is sophomores Rachelle Aupont, Dejah Bradshaw, Kristina Bugarski, Jessica Doyle and Rhaven Kemp and freshmen Nene Johnson, Crystal Townsend, Chelsea Long, Paola Vasquez and Brittany Wells. Coaches are head coach Jim Grimes and assistants Olivia Atwell, Barry Dreier and Austin Garner.
Grimes is in his second season and took the Titans from 7-23 last season to 21-7 this season.
“I am happy for the kids who truly make it a pleasure to come to work here every day,” Grimes said.
“It is an honor to be the coach of such a special group. Hopefully this is just the first step to building something special here at Eastern Florida.
“All that said, we are all about the process, and the process for this season is still incomplete. We have one regular-season game left and the postseason still ahead of us. I know this team will not be satisfied and will continue to work hard to get better every day.”
Eastern Florida’s men also won the Southern Conference this season, for the third straight time and finished the regular season at 27-3.
