BOX SCORE

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern women’s basketball team (8-4, 1-2 SSC) used a late 14-1 run to knock off Florida Tech (9-4, 0-3 SSC), 63-59, Wednesday night for its first Sunshine State Conference victory of the season.
 
The opening stanza stayed close throughout, with five lead changes and the score becoming tied four times. After the Panthers built a 10-5 lead in the first five minutes, Danielle Robinson (Fr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) came off the bench and nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Sharks ahead 11-10 at the 12:14 mark.
 
Florida Tech battled back and took the lead 16-13, but Jada Buckner (Sr., Loudon, Tenn.) responded with a triple to equalize the score again with 7:35 left in the half. Buckner put the Sharks ahead 23-20 with a pair of free throws, but Ashton McClairen knocked down a 3-pointer for the Panthers to even the score. The teams would head into the intermission all square at 25-25.
 
Robinson led all scorers with eight first half points, while Jasmire Brown tallied a team-high seven points for Florida Tech. The Panthers won the battle on the glass, grabbing 23 boards to NSU’s 17. Briauna Hagins accounted for eight rebounds for Florida Tech.
 
The first portion of the second half was dominated by the Panthers. Katie Kingfield hit a 3-pointer, extending the Florida Tech lead to ten, 49-39, with just over 10 minutes left to play.
 
The Panthers maintained control of the contest until the 3:44 mark when the Sharks took over. Meixandra Porter (Jr., Chantilly, Va.) began the NSU comeback by hitting a pair from the charity stripe. Jasmine Wilkins (So., Miami, Fla.) then dropped in a pair of layups, while also rejecting a Brown attempt on the other end, to cut the deficit to three, 58-55, with two minutes left.
 
Brown would sink a free throw for the Panthers, but it would be the only addition to the Florida Tech score in the final minutes, as Porter netted the game’s final six points to cap a 14-1 run to end the game for the Sharks and give NSU its first conference win of the season.
 
Each team had four players reach double figures in scoring with McClairen recording a game-high 18 points. Porter and Robinson each finished with 13, while Buckner and Wilkins tallied 12 for the Sharks. The Sharks committed only 15 turnovers against the Panthers, their lowest total since Dec. 3 against Barry (13).
 
With tonight’s victory, head coach LeAnn Freeland is now only three victories away from reaching the 100-win plateau for her career.

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