Flagler Women’s Basketball Soars over Georgia College on Senior Night

By Gabby Alfveby 

Women’s basketball at Flagler College put up 103 points against opponent Georgia College during their 2021-2022 senior night. Flagler held this event in the Flagler Gymnasium & Clark Family Court.

Among the Graduating seniors being celebrated were Tori Pearce (#2), Sadie Russel (#3), Staci Miller (#25) and Jaziana Mathis (#15). 

Pearce put up a total of 41 points to go along with her 10 assists and 7 steals. The guard started all 14 games in her senior season at Flagler. Pearce is unsure if she wants to continue playing because of the wear and tear it puts on her body.

“Um, it was kinda like, surreal,” Pearce said. “I feel like I played my best. But going into senior night I had those goals. I told my friend ‘I wanna score 40 points.'”

Senior night was a great night for Pearce, but also emotional.

“At the end of senior night, it was just like emotional because its like, ‘damn, it is my last home game here,” she said.

Russel, a forward for the Saints played 1,083 minutes during her two-season career here at Flagler College. Russel also averaged 9.5 points per game earning her a total of 332 career points. 

Russel would like to continue playing basketball overseas in Spain or somewhere with warm weather after departing Flagler. Her senior night experience was bittersweet.

“If I’m very honest, I don’t have any words,” she said. “It’s kind of a hard question because I have very much like mixed emotions about it. But at the same time my side of me that night was saying that I enjoyed it because my teammates were there for me like they walked with me. I was really grateful for that, that they made the extra mile and all this and went out of the way and I really appreciated them for that.”

Staci Miller is a guard from Orlando who averaged 6.6 points and scored a season-high of 19 points. The 5-7 senior will go on to pursue a career around basketball after college.

“Actually, I’m looking for an internship in marketing with the Atlanta Dream,” she said. “So hopefully I get it but if not, I’m just open to anything towards sports and basketball in general.”

Mathis is a guard from Beverly Hills, Florida and is looking at possible opportunities to continue playing the sport she fell in love with. The 5-7 guard scored 14 points during her senior night game.

“So, I’m working on trying to play overseas,” Mathis said.

Parents and fans gathered in the Gymnasium to cheer on the seniors in their outstanding 103-68 victory. Following the game, a ceremony was held, and to celebrate their careers, the four seniors were gifted with a framed commemorative poster.

The four seniors will leave Flagler not only with a degree but all the lessons that a team sport like basketball has taught them.

“I would say come in with an open mind and in the sense of, always be you,” Russel said. “Never change for somebody that you know and I would say no matter how hard it gets, you’re always going to get there because you’ll always have your teammates to get you through. When it does get hard, don’t give up.”