SFC notebook: Basketball players moving up

<p>The pipeline from the Santa Fe College women’s basketball program to the four-year university level continued this past week.</p><p>Letiecia Davenport, a standout post player for the Saints, became the third SFC player to sign a letter-of-intent during the early signing period, as she inked a deal with Georgia State on Tuesday.</p><p>Davenport, the 27th SFC player to sign a letter-of-intent with a four-year college during the Chanda Stebbins era, will join current teammate Tracie Sneed at Georgia State.</p><p>Sneed signed a letter-of-intent with GSU last week.</p><p>So far this season, Davenport, a 6-foot sophomore out of Gainesville, Ga., has averaged 8.2 points and made 50 percent of her shots.</p><p>Moving on up: Both Santa Fe basketball programs moved up in the most recent FCCAA poll, which was released Tuesday.</p><p>The Santa Fe women have moved up to fifth from seventh, while the men have moved up to eighth from ninth.</p><p>The Lady Saints also cracked the national poll and entered this weekend ranked No. 17 in the country.</p><p>Great start: The SFC women’s 5-0 start entering this weekend is their best ever during the Stebbins era.</p><p>The Saints started off 4-0 in 2006-07, but their recent triumph over the Tampa Extreme have pushed them past the mark.</p><p>No. 8 Indian River handed the SFC women their first loss Friday, 75-68.</p><p>Wise up: One of the keys to the run to the national championship game for the SFC baseball team was its pitching.</p><p>The Saints hope to be able to reload that spot once again and got a strong fall from a key transfer.</p><p>Ken Wise, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound transfer from Gordon (Ga.) College made waves for SFC on the hill recently and has a chance to fill in the rotation that includes Gary Merians and Morgan McKinney.</p><p>“He really threw hard and did a nice job of locating his pitches,” SFC baseball coach Johnny Wiggs said. “He really improved his velocity (from last season) and we are looking for big things out of him.”</p><p>More Merians: Merians, a standout pitcher from Ocala, has decided to wait until later on to sign with a four-year university.</p><p>“He had lots of offers and had a lot of big-time schools in to see him,” Wiggs said.</p><p>“He’s pitched real well for us and if he has another solid season, it will just solidify his chances of getting to where he wants to be.”</p><p>Getting defensive: With 29 new players on its roster for the fall, the SFC baseball team was still able to do the little things right.</p><p>“The key for us is that we played solid defense,” Wiggs said.</p><p>“We also pitched well and got great leadership from the (six) players we have back from last season.”</p><p>Trying to make it fit: The SFC men’s basketball team stands at 5-2 following a 61-59 loss to Brevard last Tuesday night.</p><p>In that contest, SFC scored just eight points in the final 12 minutes and saw a 13-point lead disappear.</p><p>Mike Washington and Altavious Carter scored 12 points to lead the Saints against BCC.</p><p>The Saints return to action Tuesday on the road against Polk State College, the team that knocked them out of last year’s FCCAA Tournament.</p><p>SFC’s next home game is Nov. 30 against TAAG Academy.</p><p>From there, the Saints will head to Marianna for the Panhandle Shootout on Dec. 4-5. The Saints face Tallahassee on the 4th at 3 p.m., and then take on Northwest Florida State the following night at 7.</p>