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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 19 Nova Southeastern women’s basketball team embarks on an seven-day, three-game road trip when they head for the nation’s capital Monday morning.
The Sharks (5-1, 0-1 SSC) play their first game of the trip Tuesday night, Dec. 11, at the University of the District of Columbia (4-4, 0-1 East Coast Conference). NSU hasn’t played since Dec. 1, when they suffered their first loss of the season against in-conference opponent Saint Leo.
“Our game at Saint Leo exposed our collective lack of focus and discipline,” said head coach LeAnn Freeland. “The loss provided us with a great opportunity to dissect our preparation and review our program expectations. We are a stronger unit today because of the disappointing performance.”
The Lions defeated NSU 73-69 despite a career night from
Danielle Robinson (So., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). The guard had six three-pointers and set a new standard in her Shark career with 28 points.
The Sharks led over Saint Leo 55-50 with 11:24 remaining, but the Lions took a lead that they would never relinquish by scoring the next 10 points, in what would end up being a 15-2 run.
Tuesday’s opponent, the UDC Firebirds, had a three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night when they fell in their ECC opener to Bridgeport, 58-43. They were held to 16 first-half points and only shot 24 percent from the field. Their two leading scorers for the season, Janelle Junior and Denikka Brent, combined for 1-of-17 shooting.
“UDC is an athletic, well-coached team who was in the NCAA Tournament a year ago,” said Freeland. “They are very good at keeping teams off-balance, due to a variety of full-court and half-court defensive schemes. Offensively, they utilize their athleticism to create scoring opportunities off the dribble, so we must be ready to stop dribble penetration.”
Following the loss to Saint Leo, the Sharks only dropped two slots in the latest USA Today Sports Coaches Poll, to that aforementioned No. 19 ranking. Also released this week was the first NCAA statistics of the 2012-13 season, and the Sharks lead the nation in scoring margin (+38.7, more than six points better than Colorado Mesa), and are second in all of Division II in scoring offense (89.0 points per game, 4.7 points behind Glenville State).
Tipoff on Tuesday against UDC is at 6 p.m. The road trip continues later on in the week when the Sharks take part in the Shaw Classic in Raleigh, N.C., facing Fayetteville State on Dec. 14 and defending national champion Shaw the following day.
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SHARK STATS
• Juniors
Jessica Russi (Lake Mary, Fla.) and
Richelle Carach (Naples, Fla.) continue to lead the Sunshine State conference in their respective statistical categories: Russi in assists (5.8) and Carach in field goal percentage (65.6%).
• Russi ranks 11th in all of Division II in assists, while teammate
Tailor Jones (Sr., Altamonte Springs, Fla.) is right behind her, second in the SSC and tied for 29th in the nation, at 5.0 APG.
•
Meixandra Porter (Sr., Chantilly, Va.) is second in the SSC and 39th in the nation in scoring at 18.7 points a game. Robinson’s 28-point output puts her at 16.5 points a game, shooting her up to fourth in the conference and tying her for 89th in D-II.
• Porter leads the Sharks in steals at 3.0, putting her second in the conference and tying her for 51st in the nation. Robinson and Russi are tied for third in the conference (2.5), Jones is tied for fifth (2.3), and with an even two steals a game,
Amanda Burakoski (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.) is tied for 10th.
• Porter is also third in the SSC in 3-pointers per game (2.7, also good enough for a tie for 49th in the nation) and is sixth in the conference in 3-point percentage (40.0%).
• Besides scoring offense and scoring margin, the Sharks also rank among the nation’s best in assists (tied for fifth in all of Division II at 20.2 per game), 3-point field goal percentage defense (sixth, 19.5%), field goal percentage (eighth, 47.9%), steals (eighth, 15.7), 3-point field goals made (tied for 10th, 8.2) and scoring defense (11th, 50.3 points allowed per game).
• As a team, the Sharks lead the Sunshine State in 13 categories: scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, free throw percentage, field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage defense, rebounding, assists, steals, turnover margin, assist/turnover ratio, defensive rebounds and 3-point field goals made.
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