FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Feb. 7, 2009) - Still stifled by an overtime loss to Tampa on Wednesday, the Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team dropped their third straight game with a 57-53 loss to non-conference foe Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday afternoon at Rubin Arena.

Earlier in the season, the Sharks (8-13) rattled the Sailfish 76-37 at home. However, this meeting was on different turf and different terms and the outcome was completely unexpected with the Sharks being held to their second-lowest point total against the Sailfish since Feb. 2, 2002.

Palm Beach Atlantic opened the contest with a 6-0 scoring run within the first 1:45. NSU managed to pull to within one, 8-7 at the 16:02 mark on a three-pointer by Lindsey Newpher (Jr., Depew, Okla.), but that was as close as the Sharks would come the entire game. Nova Southeastern shot a mere 27.8 percent from the field in the first half and were down 31-24 at the break.

Coming out of the break, the Sailfish continued to carry a significant advantage for most of the second period. However, down 53-41 with 5:24 left to play, the Sharks began to chip away at the PBA lead.

NSU's Stevie Kamp (Fr., Mesa, Ariz.) hit a pair of free-throws to ignite the Sharks' comeback. Eliza Allen (Sr., Hegenheim, France) followed with a three-pointer at 3:47 to pull NSU to within seven, 53-46. The Sharks continued to feed on the momentum by Kamp and Allen cutting the lead down to two, 55-53 on a Stephanie Sarosi (Jr., Mims, Fla.) layup with 16 seconds left in the half. However, a critical Shark foul pitted PBA's Lynsey Poole at the charity stripe where she connected on both to upset the Sharks 57-53.

Although the Sharks second-half effort was better than the first, NSU finished the game with a mere 32.3 field goal percentage. Sarosi led Nova Southeastern with 14 points and was the only Shark to reach double-figure scoring.

Melissa Perez led Palm Beach Atlantic with 16 points, while Selethia Jackson and Chanell Byrd followed with 15 and 13 respectively.

NSU will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 pm hosting Sunshine State Conference rival Lynn for homecoming at the University Center Arena.