Womens Basketball

2007-2008 Lackawanna College Women's Basketball

Women's Basketball Roster

Turoni picks Goldey-Beacom College

Two years ago Nikki Turoni enrolled at Lackawanna College to play Basketball and Softball with the intent to move on to a four year institution after graduation. With her execution of a Letter of Intent to attend Division II Goldie Beacom College in Wilmington Delaware, she accomplished that goal. If you asked Turoni what other contributions she made at Lackawanna, she probably would have answered as briefly as the opening two sentences of this article. However, the coaches for whom she played would have a much different response. Her softball coach, Jerry Santorsa, in discussing the effect she had on his program, said it best when he stated, “Certain players you remember for what they did on the field, and other players you miss because they had the admirable personal attributes that made your team better as people, However! In Nikki, you have one of that handful of players who will both be remembered for what they did and missed because of what they brought to the program.” In discussing those personal traits, Santorsa added, “It’s only human nature to want lead the team player by doing the heroic, a game winning home run, a game ending strikeout, a diving catch, yet its truly rare to find players who are willing to sacrifice personal prestige for team glory. Nikki was definitely the latter. If I felt that Nikki would best help the team by keeping score, she would do it, do it well and do it without complaint.” more

Lackawanna College Teams Receive
All Academic Recognition

Lackawanna College is proud to announcethat both its women's basketball and softball teams have been recognized by the NJCAA as a 2005-2006 Spring Academic Team of the Year.  In order to be recognized a team as a group must attain an average minimum grade point of 3.00.

The Lackawanna College women's basketball team was so recognized after attaining a GPA of 3.29. This average ranked them 17 th in the nation of the 387 schools participating in that NJCAA sport. The only other team in the Northeastern section of United States with a higher ranking was Herkimer County Community College, Herkimer, NY. Herkimer beat out Lackawanna by one hundredths of a point. However, The Lady Falcon’s GPA did place them first amongst the other institutions comprising Region 19.

The Lady Falcon’s also received postseason academic recognition from the Women's Basketball Coach’s Association which ranked Lackawanna College second in the country at the Junior College Level of those institutions belonging to their organization.

The Lackawanna College softball team received their recognition by scoring a GPA of 3.09. This Grade Point Average placed them 40 th  of the 349 schools in the nation participating in NJCAA Softball. Within Region 19, only Sussex County Community College could claim a better ranking.

The women's basketball team and softball team joined the college's volleyball team in obtaining NJCAA academic recognition during the 2005-2006 academic year.

Falcon Forward Flies East

Staci Hughes, the Head Coach of the Lackawanna College Women's Basketball Team, is proud to announce that starting forward Jasmine Martinez has agreed to attend Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

In her only season at Lackawanna College, Martinez was an impact player scoring 372 points while accumulating 217 rebounds, 55 steals and 36 rebounds. She ranked 3rd in team scoring with 13.78 points per game average and 2nd in team rebounds capturing 8.04 rebounds per game.

On being informed of her decision to attend Bloomfield, Coach Hughes said "Coach Wimberly ( Bloomfield's Head Coach, Jerry Wimberly) is picking up a great player in Martinez. Her work ethic and game intensity is top notch. Jasmine is only going to make his team better. I look for Jasmine to step into a starting role at Bloomfield.

In giving her reasons for picking Bloomfield, Martinez stated "I wanted a situation that allows me to continue my education at with a good educational reputation and to be an immediate contributor to the team. I feel that Bloomfield met both those requirements". She added "Besides, I felt extremely comfortable with the team members I met when I visited Bloomfield this past winter." Martinez added "It doesn't hurt that the school is within easy traveling distance of New York City, the most exciting city in the world!"

Bloomfield is an NCAA Division II school coached by Jerry Wimberly. The Deacons are member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, where they compiled a 19-3 record and finished second to Holy Family in the 12 team league.

Falcon Coaching Staff

Staci Hughes
Head Women's Basketball Coach

Within a three-month period in 2003 Staci Hughes was promoted from assistant to head coach of the women's basketball and volleyball teams at Lackawanna College. She served as assistant coach in both programs for two seasons before moving up. A 1993 graduate of Riverside High School, she excelled in basketball, softball and track before moving on to Lackawanna, where she participated in basketball, softball and volleyball. After graduating from Lackawanna, she enrolled at College Misericordia and was a member of the women's basketball team. In 1998 she was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in social work by Misericordia. She also is girls junior high softball coach in the Riverside School District. She is purchasing clerk and assistant to the payroll supervisor at Lackawanna, where she began her employment in January 2001 as a general clerk. Prior to arriving at Lackawanna, she was employed for one year by the Scranton Post Office.

Megan Fuller
Assistant Women's Basketball Coach