Women's basketball team faces familiar foe in quarterfinals

For the fourth straight FCSAA Division I Championships, the Eastern Florida State College women's basketball team will meet the host Northwest Florida State College on Thursday.

This year it will be in the quarterfinals. The Titans and Raiders have met in the semifinals the past two seasons and met in the championship game the year before that.

On Thursday Zack Banks will be guiding Eastern Florida State College against the team he helped recruit as an assistant with the Raiders last season.

"It's a full circle moment, being there for seven years and learning from the best. But we are prepared and I know he will be prepared," Eastern Florida State College women's basketball coach Zack Banks said. "We are just grateful to be here and get to play the best and try to beat the best."

Eastern Florida State College got into the tournament as the No. 8 seed by coming back to beat St. Petersburg College on the road and then getting some help.

The Titans will face No. 1 seed Northwest Florida State College who is ranked third in the latest NJCAA Division I poll. The two teams met early in the season with the Raiders picking up the 64-40 win. Four Raiders scored in double digits in that meeting led by Ka'Zahria Johnson who had 13.

"We will have to be the best detailed team, we have to be good at the little things that don't show up in the scorebook, getting the 50/50 balls, the rebounds. We have to be the grittier team," Banks said.

The Titans are led by Bruna DaSilva who is averaging 13.3 points in 27 games while teammate Ofir Parpara is averaging 11.5 in 30 games.

Northwest Florida State College is led by the Conference Player of the Year Khoudia Diagne who is averaging 16.7 points and 7.5 rebounds this season.

The two teams have met each other five of the past six seasons and the Raiders are 4-1 in those meetings. Thursday's game will tip off at 7 p.m. EDT and fans can watch the game live online, click here