Box Score BOX SCORE
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern women’s basketball team held off multiple second-half rallies by the Rollins Tars to defeat them Wednesday at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center, 85-76.
With the win, the Sharks (17-6, 9-4 SSC) keep pace in the SSC standings, and now have second place all to themselves. Lynn defeated Florida Tech to drop them into third, 89-76. Lynn is 10-4 in conference with NSU a half-game back, while FIT falls to 8-5.
NSU led by 21 at the half Wednesday, 46-25, largely behind 17 points from
Danielle Robinson (So., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and by making seven 3-pointers while forcing 14 Rollins turnovers.
However, the Tars (11-11, 7-7 SSC) kept coming back in waves. To start the second, they came out on a 9-3 run to cut it to 13 with 16:13 left at 49-36.
NSU called a timeout and quickly scored seven straight of their own to push back out to 20, 56-36. It was a 19-point lead (60-41) when Rollins scored 11 straight to get back to single digits (60-52, 12:17 left). That was the closest the game had been since the 11:04 to go in the first half.
When the Tars later cut it to seven, down 72-65 with 4:41 left, the Sharks buried three straight 3-pointers – by
Taylor Buie (Fr., Puyallup, Wash.),
Amanda Burakoski (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.) and
Meixandra Porter (Sr., Chantilly, Va.) – to give them a 16-point lead with 2:56 remaining. It would be a seven-point game on two more occasions in the final minutes, but that was as close as Rollins would get.
Porter led the victorious Sharks with 27 points. Robinson had 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Burakoski’s four 3-pointers accounted for all 12 of her points (and she added five steals and five rebounds), as did Buie’s three ‘3’s for her nine (along with four assists).
Two of the team’s primary ballhandlers had big nights as well.
Jessica Russi (Jr., Lake Mary, Fla.) had seven points, a team-high 11 rebounds and four steals, and
Tailor Jones (Sr., Altamonte Springs, Fla.) had five points, seven rebounds and a team-high five assists.
The Shark defense forced 27 Tar turnovers and had 15 steals on the night. NSU had a big edge in points-off-turnovers, 40-18.
The Tars had three in double digits in the loss: Ashley Jones (22), Sarah Taylor (14) and Ashley Losch (10). Jones was 7-of-9 from the field, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range.
This Saturday, Feb. 23, will pit the SSC's No. 1 vs. No. 2, as the Sharks will host conference leader Lynn at the NSU Arena. A win would give NSU a half-game lead in the standings with two road games to go in the regular season. Saturday will also be Senior Day for both the NSU women’s and men’s teams. For the women, Porter and Tailor Jones will be honored in ceremonies prior to the 2 p.m. tip.
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