FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern women’s basketball team has the first of back-to-back road games against ranked Sunshine State Conference opponents when they travel to Winter Park, Fla., to take on No. 19 Rollins College on Wednesday.
The Sharks (10-3, 2-1 SSC) moved into a four-way tie for first place in the SSC with their second straight conference victory, 76-53 over Florida Southern at home last Saturday.
“There is a great amount of parity in the conference this season, so every game is a big game and every win is a big win,” said head coach LeAnn Freeland. “Each team in the league has played three or four conference games and every team already has at least one loss already. It is important we take one game at a time.”
Rollins (10-3, 1-2 SSC), meanwhile, is coming off a non-conference victory on that same day against Palm Beach Atlantic. In the Tars’ game prior to that, Jan. 9 against Florida Tech, they picked up their first SSC win of the year, defeating Florida Tech, 66-56. They previously had been defeated in-conference by Eckerd and Tampa.
“Rollins is a well-coached team who knows how to win,” said Freeland. “Coach Wilkes likes players with versatility and their style of play is similar to our style. All of their players can shoot ‘3’s’ and get to the rim. On the defensive end, they do a great job mixing up their schemes with both a man defense and a 1-2-2 zone, as well as full-court looks. Currently, they are number one in the conference in scoring defense, holding their opponents to a mere 50.8 points per game.”
In the Sharks’ Saturday win, they got contributions not just from the usual suspects, but also from two freshmen,
Taylor Buie (Puyallup, Wash.) and
Alexis Murphy (Carlisle, Ohio). Buie drew the start at point guard and poured in 13 of her 15 points in the first half. Murphy set a new career high with eight points, including a 3-pointer, the first of her career, capping a second-half run that put the game out of reach.
“Our freshmen, Buie, Murphy, and
Molly Blomer (West Chester, Ohio), are playing their best basketball right now,” said Freeland. “Two areas they have vastly improved are communication on both ends and their defensive positioning. As we move deeper into conference play, it comforting to know we go 10 deep and can look for production from everyone.”
Also extremely hot as of late is
Amanda Burakoski (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.), who has led the Sharks in scoring four out of their last five games, and has reached double digits each of the last seven contests. Her shooting percentage over the last five games has been .632, which has pushed her season percentage to .566, first in the SSC and 15th in all of Division II.
“Amanda does a great job getting easy shots in transition and in the full court,” said Freeland. “She is a great scorer who needs to work even harder to get a shot every possession. The harder she works, the better our offense runs.”
Game time against Rollins on Wednesday is 5:30 p.m. Shark fans can follow the team against the Tars via live audio
HERE and live stats
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SHARK STATS
• The Sharks’ average margin of victory, 25.1 points per game, continues to lead all of NCAA Division II.
• They are also in the top five in four other categories: assists (third, 18.7), scoring offense (fourth, 81.9), field goal percentage (fifth, 47.4%) and 3-pointers made per game (fifth, 9.0).
• NSU leads the SSC in eight team categories: scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, 3-point field goal defense, assists, steals, assist/turnover ratio and 3-pointers made per game.
• The team’s other individual conference leader continues to be
Jessica Russi (Jr., Lake Mary, Fla.), at 6.0 assists per game. That also ranks her sixth in the NCAA. She is third in the SSC in assist/turnover ratio (1.5).
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Meixandra Porter (Sr., Chantilly, Va.) continues to be among the cream of the crop in multiple conference categories. She is second in scoring (17.2), steals (2.7) and 3-pointers made per game (2.7), fifth in 3-pointer percentage (38.5%), ninth in free throw percentage (80.0%) and 10th in field goal percentage (46.7%).
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Danielle Robinson (So., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) is fourth in the SSC in scoring (15.0), sixth in 3-point percentage (36.1%), and seventh in both 3-pointers made per game (2.0) and steals (2.1).
• Burakoski has moved up to third in the conference in 3-point percentage (44.4%) and eighth in scoring (13.8). She is also sixth in 3-pointers made per game (2.2) and ninth in steals (2.0).
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Tailor Jones (Sr., Altamonte Springs, Fla.) ranks among league leaders in assists (tied for second, 4.3), field goal percentage (sixth, 48.7%) and steals (seventh, 2.1).
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