LAKELAND, Fla. (Feb. 28, 2009) - Nova Southeastern University's women's basketball team downed Florida Southern 71-58 in a key Sunshine State Conference game on Saturday at Jenkins Field House.

With the win, NSU (13-14, 9-7 SSC) will be seeded fourth heading into next week's Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida Sunshine State Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. The Sharks also secured home-court advantage for its opening-round game, which will take place on Wednesday at the Arena at the Don Taft University Center. NSU will host Florida Southern, who is seeded fifth, in the first-round game.

Solid offensive efforts carried the Sharks through the first half. With the NSU leading 10-7, the Sharks exploded for a 12-2 run that allowed NSU to go up by 13 with 6:58 left in the half. Jada Buckner (Fr., Loudon, Tenn.) sparked the run with a three-points. A layup by Stephanie Sarosi (Jr., Mims, Fla.) capped the run and made it a 22-9 game.

NSU ultimately carried a 13-point into halftime as the Sharks were up 26-13 at the break.

The Sharks pushed their advantage to 17 in the second half as a Sarosi layup at 13:23 put NSU up 41-24. However, NSU had to fend off Florida Southern's offense. The Moccasins cut NSU's lead down to seven as Danielle Walsh hit a trey at 9:26 to make it a 43-36 game. Florida Southern pulled to within six with 5:31 remaining off a Michaela Hawley layup as NSU held a 48-42 advantage.

NSU held off Florida Southern's rally en route to regaining a double-digit lead. The Sharks went up by 11 with 1:37 remaining behind a pair of Abbie Tepe (So., Cincinnati, Ohio) foul shots. NSU made it a 16-point game left as LaShawnna Edwards (Jr., Miami, Fla.) calmly sank her two shots from the charity stripe with seven seconds left.

NSU shot 45.5 percent (30-for-66) from the floor, while Florida Southern was 36.1 percent (22-for-61). NSU dominated the boards, pulling down 49 compared to the Moccasins' 27.

Sarosi tallied a game-high 31 points, which is the second time in her career she has recorded a 30-point game. Additionally, she had recorded 20 or more points in the last six games. Sarosi also grabbed a game-high 15 caroms.

Chelsea Johnson paced Florida Southern with 22 points, while Alli Fogle had a team-high seven rebounds.