BOX SCORE

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – With both teams hitting 26-for-71 from the field, the Nova Southeastern University women’s basketball team (7-3) outlasted the Shaw Bears (6-4) en route to a 74-72 win on Thursday afternoon in the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center.

The Sharks forced 20 Shaw turnovers while accumulating 13 steals in NSU’s closest game of the year. The Sharks scored 19 points off of the Bears turnovers.

Senior center Stephanie Sarosi (Mims, Fla.) tallied her second double-double of the year as she led the team with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Freshman Richelle Carach (Naples, Fla.) was a spark off NSU’s bench adding 14 points, a new season high.

Senior Abbie Tepe (Cincinnati, Ohio) was another force to be reckoned with as she scored 10 points and dished out eight assists. Tepe moves to fifth all-time on NSU's scoring list with 847, surpassing Eliza Allen (2005-09) who scored 832 points in her career.
 
Despite the Bears outrebounding the Sharks, 51-45, NSU outscored Shaw, 13-10, in second chance points.

Tepe got the Sharks started on the right foot as she nailed a three for the games first basket. After Shaw quickly evened the score up, NSU added four points in the paint from Jasmine Wilkins (Fr., Miami, Fla.) and Sarosi. The Sharks ended up outscoring the Bears, 32-22, in the paint.

In the first half, NSU went up by nine points with 13:24 left and once again with 7:51 remaining. The Bears went on a 10-0 run and took their first lead of the game with a little over three minutes left in the half.

Up by three in the Bears favor, junior transfer Jessica Walter (Knoxville, Tenn.) drilled a three to even the score with one minute remaining.

Carach put the Sharks up by two, hitting both shots at the line but a late foul with one second left allowed Shaw to head into the locker room deadlocked at 35-35.

With the Bears ahead by one, junior Quinessa Johnson (West Chester, Ohio) laid in a bucket on the fast break at the 14:14 mark.

The bucket was start of a 9-0 run by the Sharks. The Bears then went on their own run to pull within one basket, 56-54, with 8:39 left.

At 7:31, senior guard Priscilla Perez (Miami, Fla.) swished a three to put NSU up by double-digits.

With 1:07 left in the game and the Sharks taking a seven point lead at 74-67, the Bears fought until the last second but were unable to hit the half court shot and dropped its fourth game of the season.

The Sharks will pick back up with Sunshine State Conference play on Wednesday, Jan. 5th as they host Florida Tech at 5:30 p.m. in the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center.