Box Score
MELBOURNE, Fla. – The No. 3 Nova Southeastern women's basketball team outscored Florida Tech 31-9 to start the second half, erasing a six-point halftime deficit as they topped the Panthers 80-71 Wednesday night at the Clemente Center.
Florida Tech (12-6, 3-3 SSC) forced 15 Shark turnovers in the first half and led 35-29.
Taylor Buie (So., Puyallup, Wash.) scored eight points in less than four minutes to begin the second, with her free throws at the 18:05 mark giving NSU (15-0, 6-0 SSC) the lead.
Buie,
Richelle Carach (Sr., Naples, Fla.) and
Danielle Robinson (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) combined for the first 17 points after the break for the Sharks. A breakaway layup by
Amanda Burakoski (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y.), on a nice one-handed assist from Buie, capped a 19-5 NSU run and gave NSU a 48-40 lead with 14:08 left.
Kayk Wilson, the second-leading scorer in the conference coming in, scored her first points on Wednesday with two free throws at 13:58, making it a six-point game, 48-42. That would be the closest the Panthers would get, as
Molly Blomer (So, West Chester, Ohio) made back-to-back 3-pointers on the next two Shark possessions, followed by another '3' by Robinson.
NSU shot 64 percent in the second half (18-for-28) and were 7-of-12 from behind the arc (10-for-20 overall). They also took much better care of the ball, not committing their third turnover after the break until the 7:52 mark.
Buie's 21 points came on 7-of-10 shooting, and she was 5-of-7 on 3-pointers while adding five assists. Carach notched her second double-double of the season with 19 points (shooting 7-of-9 from the field) and 10 boards. Robinson had 12 points while Burakoski (nine) and Blomer (eight) combined for 17 off the bench. Burakoski added three blocks and three assists on the night.
The Sharks outrebounded the Panthers 43-34, despite Tiesha Flagler pulling down 15 for FIT, the most by an NSU opponent this year. After Carach's 10,
Jasmine Wilkins (R-Jr., Miami) had nine, and
Jessica Russi (Sr., Lake Mary, Fla.) five, along with six assists.
Rita Acevedo led FIT with 17 points. The Sharks held Wilson to 15 on 3-of-14 shooting from the field, while Rosie Hynes added 13, but shot 4-of-16. The Panthers shot 30.6 percent for the game (22-of-72) and just 25.6 percent in the second half (10-of-39).
In other results on Wednesday, No. 1 Bentley improved to 17-0 with an 87-65 win over New Haven, while No. 2 Emporia State suffered their first loss of the year, 59-44 to Northeastern State, dropping them to 17-1. The nation's other two undefeated teams play next on Thursday (No. 6 Harding, 17-0) and Friday (No. 4 Colorado Mesa, 15-0), respectively.
NSU puts their 15-0 mark on the line Saturday, traveling to play 11-5 Tampa. At 5-2, the Spartans are currently second in the conference standings behind the 6-0 Sharks. Tipoff will be at 2 p.m.
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