The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SHANEA Armbrister and her Georgia Lady Bulldogs are dominating their early non-conference schedule and look to head into next week’s Junkanoo Jam with momentum.

The Lady Bullgogs scored an 81-51 win over the BYU Cougars at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia, on Wednesday night.

Armbrister was in the starting lineup once again and finished with five points, six rebounds and three assists.

On the season she is averaging 6.3 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game. In game one she finished with eight points and 10 rebounds in the season-opening 64-50 win over South Carolina State. It was her first career start and she set new highs for rebounds, minutes played and assists.

In game two, Armbrister finished with six points, eight assists and two steals in Georgia’s 72-64 win over Mercer. She again set a season high, this time in assists.

Their final game before the Junkanoo Jam will be a November 20 matchup against Georgia Tech.

Due to the damage inflicted by Hurricane Matthew, the internationally renowned Junkanoo Jam basketball tournament was forced to relocate.

Traditionally hosted in Grand Bahama, Basketball Travelers and tournament organisers announced that this year’s event is slated to take place November 24-26 at the Gateway Christian Academy Gym in Bimini. The Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to open the tourney against Minnesota on November 24.

The Junkanoo Jam will again feature some of the top NCAA Division I women’s basketball programmes and will also showcase an appearance by a Bahamian player.

Event organisers officially released the eight-team field for the 14th edition of the event hosted over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

In addition to the Lady Bulldogs, the tournament features the Creighton Bluejays, Dayton Flyers, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Missouri Tigers, South Florida Bulls and North Carolina Tar Heels.

As a transfer after a storied junior college career, Armbrister played in 21 games last season for the Bulldogs. After battling through a torn meniscus in the early part of the year, the six-foot, two-inch wing player hit 45 per cent from three-point range, the best average on the team for players with 10 or more attempts. Over the season she averaged 2.2 points and one rebound per game. 

Since the  inception of the Junkanoo Jam in 2002, many of the nation’s top women’s programmes have converged on Grand Bahama to test their skills in meaningful regular season competition.

Local favourite Jonquel Jones, now with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, returned to Grand Bahama at the 2014 Junkanoo Jam.

Jones delivered an MVP performance and led her George Washington Colonials to the Freeport Division title at the St George’s Gymnasium.

The tournament traditionally boasts a talented group of teams which range among some of the best in  the NCAA.