BOCA RATON, Fla. (January 26, 2008) - NSU point guard Abbie Tepe (Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio) scored a career-high 21 points, including 17 points in the second half as the Nova Southeastern Sharks (13-5, 6-1 SSC) battled foul trouble and rallied from behind to defeat the Lynn Fighting Knights (14-4, 5-2 SSC) by a score of 68-58 on Saturday evening at Lynn's deHornle Center. The win is the sixth straight for the Sharks and moves them into a tie for first place atop the SSC standings with the Tampa Spartans.
Despite the matchup between two of the conferences best offenses, the first half was a defensive struggle as NSU and Lynn shot 34 and 33 percent from the field, respectively. Although the Sharks had the better of the two percentages, turnovers were the Sharks undoing as they committed 14 turnovers in the first frame.
After an Amber Bishko (Sr., Orlando, Fla.) jumper gave the Sharks a 21-18 lead with 3:41 left in the stanza, Lynn would close the half with an 8-0 run, capped by a layup from Rachel Brockman, giving Lynn a 26-21 lead at the half.
The second half saw a more efficient NSU offense as they shot 41.9 percent from the field and limited themselves to five turnovers. In a game that saw 10 ties and seven lead changes, NSU took the lead for good with a pair of made free throws by LaShawnna Edwards (So., North Miami Beach, Fla.) with 7:54 remaining. The Sharks would outscore Lynn 19-11 for the remainder of the game, making critical free throws down the stretch to lock up the 10-point victory.
In addition to Tepe's 21 points, Eliza Allen (Jr., Hegenheim, France) scored 16 points while Bishko and Stephanie Sarosi (So., Mims, Fla.) added 11 and 10 points respectively. NSU held its own defensively for the entire game, limiting the Knights to a 32.8 percent field goal percentage. Another decisive statistic was NSU going 19-for-27 from the charity stripe while Lynn only shot 45 percent (9-of-20) from the free throw line.
NSU will return to the hardwood on Wednesday, January 30 as they host the Barry Buccaneers at 5:30pm at the University Center Arena.
