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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Following two big wins last week, the Nova Southeastern women’s basketball team have re-entered the USA TODAY Sports NCAA Division II Top 25, at No. 20, as Florida Tech comes to town Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. matchup.
Based on their road sweep of then-No. 19 Rollins and then-No. 15 Tampa, the Sharks (12-3, 4-1 SSC) are making their first appearance in the national rankings since December 11, when they were 19th. They have also continued their hold of first place in the Sunshine State Conference.
“Every week is another challenge,” said head coach LeAnn Freeland. “Last week, we went on the road to play two nationally-ranked teams. However, this week is just as important. Both teams we play this week are two of the hottest teams in the SSC. We have to focus one game at a time and be ready to battle every game.”
This week begins with a return to the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center, Wednesday night against Florida Tech (11-4, 3-2 SSC). The Panthers have won five of their last seven games, but both of those losses have come to conference opponents: Rollins on Jan. 9, and last time out, to Lynn on Jan. 16.
“Florida Tech is a program I admire in the SSC,” said Freeland. “Coach Reynolds does a great job motivating his team and they play extremely hard. They are a good team because they out-work people in the full court for easy transition buckets and hang around to finish every play. For all Shark fans, I can promise this will be a fun game to watch.”
The Sharks moved to 4-1 in SSC play with their two wins last week. The latter, against Tampa, was a close game throughout most of the contest, including being just a two-point spread with 2:07 left. But just as it was at Rollins (when NSU had a late 17-0 run), the Sharks widened the gap at the end, scoring seven of the game’s last nine points.
“Our players showed great composure in our last two games late in the game,” said Freeland. “In order to be successful in this league, teams must grind out wins.”
NSU was also able to take care of the ball on Saturday, only committing 14 turnovers. It was their second lowest number of the season, and according to Freeland, a telling statistic, as it led to them winning points off of turnovers, 31-13.
“The key to our win at Tampa was found in the turnover margin,” she said. “We forced them into 24 turnovers to our 14, so we got more opportunities to score.”
Again, game time Wednesday night is 5:30 for the women’s game, and fans at home can tune in via live video
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SHARK STATS
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Meixandra Porter (Sr., Chantilly, Va.), following her output against Tampa (20 points, 4-8 3-pointers) still resides in second place in the SSC in both of those categories -- 16.8 points per game and 2.7 3-pointers per game – as well as in steals (2.5).
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Amanda Burakoski (Jr., Brooklyn, N.Y.) leads the conference in field goal percentage (55.5%) and is second in 3-point percentage (44.0%). Both of those marks slot her 14th overall in the nation. She is seventh in the SSC in scoring (14.1 PPG), just behind
Danielle Robinson (So., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) in sixth (14.3).
• The Sharks are also fourth-fifth-sixth in 3-point percentage with Porter (38.1%),
Taylor Buie (Fr., Puyallup, Wash., at 36.4%) and Robinson (35.8%).
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Jessica Russi (Jr., Lake Mary, Fla.) continues to lead the SSC in assists (5.9). That mark still also ranks her sixth in Division II.
• The Sharks as a whole are still the SSC leaders in eight team categories (scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, rebounding margin, assists, steals, assist/turnover ratio and 3-pointers made), and are second in five others (free throw percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, rebounding defense, turnover margin and offensive rebound percentage).
• They rank in the top 10 in five categories nationally: scoring margin (3rd), scoring offense (5th), field goal percentage (5th), 3-point field goals made per game (5th) and assists (8th).
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