Box Score BOX SCORE
RALEIGH, N.C. – The No. 17 Nova Southeastern women’s basketball team (6-3) fell for the second time in as many days at the Shaw Invitational, 97-82 on Saturday to the host school, the No. 13 Shaw Bears (3-1).
Just as they did on Friday against Fayetteville State, the Sharks attempted another second-half comeback while down double digits, after falling behind by 12 early on (46-34 with 18:22 left). A
Taylor Buie (Fr., Puyallup, Wash.) 3-pointer with 13:35 remaining concluded a 12-4 NSU run, cutting the deficit to four at 50-46.
The Bears then went on a 9-3 run of their own, which included two old-fashioned three-point plays, going back ahead by 10 at 59-49 at the 11:43 mark. Again, NSU responded, a 10-3 stretch that cut it to a one-possession game at 62-59. In fact,
Amanda Burakoski (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.), who made five 3-pointers on the night, had her tying attempt rim out with 9:33 left, and at from that point on, Shaw didn’t look back.
The Bears scored nine of the next 12 points, and were up by at least 10 for most of the last four minutes. They made their last 11 free throws of the night and shot 83 percent from the line for the game.
“We needed to do a better job of taking care of the ball in transition, and limiting their easy shots around the basket,” said head coach LeAnn Freeland. “We need to improve our post defense and focus more on one possession at a time. We had so many miscommunications that led to easy conversions, and that allowed them to go on runs. In order to improve, we have to be more determined to get stops.”
Burakoski led the Sharks with a career-high 25 points, and tied for the team lead with six rebounds.
Meixandra Porter (Sr., Chantilly, Va.) had 23, and
Danielle Robinson (So., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) added 18, with each making four 3’s. In fact, the three combined to attempt 43 of the new school-record 46 3-point shots on the night.
“We shot 30 percent from ‘3,’ so to me it was more about our defensive effort than our offensive effort,” said Freeland. “We scored 82 points, and that should be enough to win the game.”
Shaw’s Taylor Dalrymple, formerly of the University of Arizona, tied Burakoski for game honors, scoring her 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting. She made all four of her 3-pointers and also had a game-high nine rebounds. Ronika Ransford, a transfer from the University of Georgia and former McDonald’s All-American, had 21 for the Bears, and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the line.
The statistical trend of losing the field goal percentage and rebounding categories in their losses continued for the Sharks, as they were outshot 56 to 40 percent, and outrebounded 44-34.
“We wanted to go on this road trip because we knew we were going to be playing two quality teams with athleticism and size,” said Freeland. “In order to be a competitive team nationally, we have to learn to play more physical, and this weekend enabled us to have a better understanding of what we have to do moving forward.”
NSU is off for two weeks, picking up play after the holiday break in the Florida Tech Classic in Melbourne. They play Fort Valley State on Dec. 29 at 4 p.m., and Palm Beach Atlantic for the second time this season, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.
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