Charles Bethel Jr.

Women's Basketball 10/22/2021 4:07:00 PM J.T. Wilcox, Sports Information Director

Florida Memorial WBB Opens Season At Dream Invitational

AT A GLANCE
FMU Lions vs. Stillman College Tigers
FMU Lions vs. Rust College Bearcats
When: Saturday-Sunday, October 23-24, 2021
Where: Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. | Hawkins Student Activity Center
Tip-off: Saturday – 4 p.m. | Sunday – 2 p.m.
Last Meeting: First Meetings
Live Stream: Link
Live Stats: Link

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Florida Memorial University's women's basketball team will open its 2021-22 regular season this weekend with a trip Alabama, where it will play two games in two days as a part of the Dream Classic Academy Invitational at Talladega College beginning Saturday.

The Lions will play in the tournament's opening game Saturday, taking on Stillman College (Ala.) at 4 p.m. and return to action Sunday against Rust College (Miss.) at 2 p.m.

The tournament is set to feature six teams: FMU, Rust, Stillman, Fisk University (Tenn.), Wilberforce University (Oh.), and host Talladega College playing six total games across the two days with all the games being played in TC's Hawkins Student Activity Center.

Fans are welcomed to attend the event and all the games will be streamed live online via Talladega College and can be viewed for free.

For Florida Memorial, Saturday marks the beginning of a bit of a "redemption season". The 2020-21 season was a wonky one for everyone as it was played under the stress of strict health and safety protocols. But it was especially odd for the Lions, as all but one of their home games were played in front of no fans. Worst yet, the 2020-21 marked the first time in half a decade that FMU did not reach its conference's postseason tournament.

Looking to ensure that was a one-year outlier, FMU head coach Gregory Stanback and his coaching staff – which welcomed the addition of new assistant coach Krystal Stevens – hit the recruiting trail hard to bolster the team's roster and add to a solid returning core.

To help the team's rebounding woes from this past season, Stanback brought in a pair of 6-foot-3 centers in Danielle Jackson and Da'Marreya Johnson. The freshmen should help improve on the minus-3.1 rebounding margin the team had this past season.

The team's offense should also get a boost from the healthy return of Aliyah-Deen Ahmad, along with the additions of Hanifa Neal and Monique Esbrand – a graduate transfer from Miami University (Oh.).

Johnson, Jackson, Ahmad, Esbrand, and Neal should mix in well with returners Jamari Tillman, Keaynna Tolbert – the team's leading scorer and First Team All-Sun Conference selection from this past season – and Chantel Barnett, who was named the Sun Conference Freshman of the Year in 2020-21.

All of the coaching staff's work equaled to Florida Memorial being voted to finish fourth in the Sun Conference preseason coach's poll.

However, the Lions will be without the services of Tolbert, Tillman, and Cheyanne Whitfield over the weekend for undisclosed reasons.

With its two opponents this weekend, Florida Memorial should receive a serviceable tested and Stanback will get an early snapshot of his team's potential.

In Rust, the Lions face a team that went 12-2 this past season and return almost all of what was already a veteran roster. The Bearcats' top three scorers from 2020-21 are all back on this season's roster, including speedy guard Shay Johnson.

Stillman didn't have a great 2020-21. The Tigers went just 4-14 in a year where they only played six different opponents across those 18 games. Stillman, like FMU, did a lot to reshape its roster this past offseason and will be looking to build chemistry and figure out lineup combinations early.

Look for Barnett to assert herself into a more of a lead role – especially with Tolbert sidelined – in these early games as the Lions look to start the season on a positive note.

Follow Florida Memorial University Athletics on social media
Instagram: @GoFMULions/@FMUWBB | Twitter: @GoFMULions | YouTube: Official FMU Lions

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