The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN female basketball players at the collegiate level have had an immediate impact with their respective clubs, winning a series of early season accolades.

For the second consecutive week, Ashley Moss was named the player of the week for the Holland College Hurricanes in Prince Edward Island, Canada while Shanae Armbrister’s debut was as good as advertised with the Darton State Lady Cavaliers in Albany, Georgia.

Moss had her third consecutive double double on the season as the Hurricanes moved to 3-1 with back to back wins over the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics in Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association action.

In the first game of the back-to-back, the home opener for the Hurricanes at the Centre for Community Engagement, Moss finished with 15 points and 22 rebounds in a 72-61 win Saturday night. They led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter, but trailed by one headed into the half.

An eight-point advantage in the third proved to be the difference in the game as the Hurricanes held on for the win.

In game two, Moss nearly totalled a triple double when she finished with 12 points, 26 rebounds and seven blocks in a 73-63 win over the Mystics. Her rebound and blocks numbers were both league highs.

Through four games, Moss is averaging 14 points, 15.8 rebounds and three blocks per game.

In her collegiate debut, Moss was the catalyst in the Hurricanes’ 85-31 win over the Dal-AC Rams when she finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. She also added three blocks and three steals.

In game two she finished with 10 points and three rebounds against the top ranked St Thomas University Tommies.

The Hurricanes are slated to play another back-to-back series this weekend when they travel to face the Crandall University Chargers.

Armbrister’s three-game week included two double doubles as she was named Women’s Basketball Player of the Week by the Georgia Collegiate Athletics Association conference.

Despite the Lady Cavs finishing 1-2 for the week, Armbrister averaged 25 points and 10 rebounds per game over the three-game stretch.

Against Gulf Coast State College, she finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. She followed with 23 points and nine rebounds against Tallahassee Community College when she shot 5-6 from three-point range. They returned to the win column with a 103-78 blowout over Eastern Florida State College when Armbrister had 30 points and 11 rebounds. She continued her hot shooting with a 6-8 performance from beyond the arch.

The 6’3” guard has scored more than 20 points in five of the first seven games of her collegiate career.

On Sunday afternoon she finished with 20 points in the Lady Cavs’ 71-54 win over Georgia Perimeter to move to 4-3.

In seven games this season, she has posted averages of 19.9 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 52 per cent from the field, 42 per cent from three point range and 81 per cent from the free throw line.

Armbrister has been the top player for a team that entered the season nationally ranked at No.10 in the NJCAA preseason poll.

She is the second player to join the Lady Cavs in as many years, joining sophomore guard Cedricka Sweeting as Darton State looks to successfully defends its GCAA title.

Sweeting is averaging 11.1 points, a team high 5.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game, shooting 41.5 per cent from the field.

After a slow shooting start to the season, Sweeting has scored in double figures in three of Darton State’s last four games. She finished with a season high 20 points against Tallahassee Community College where she was a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arch, after shooting 4-8 in the first three games of the season.

She followed with 16 points against Eastern Florida State when she shot 4-5 from three-point range and against Georgia Perimeter, finished with 11 points and a season high seven assists.

Darton State is scheduled to take on Atlanta Metro on November 20 as they look to win back-to-back games for the first time in over three weeks.