Live Video | Live Stats
Game Notes
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern women's basketball team will kick off their 2013-14 Sunshine State Conference schedule on Saturday, hosting the Florida Southern Mocs at the NSU Arena at 2 p.m.
The Sharks (6-0) have swept through three showcases to start the year, the latest coming Nov. 29-30 with two 30-plus point victories over Pitt-Johnstown and Flagler in the NSU Thanksgiving Classic. For each team's first SSC matchup of the year, the Mocs (4-2) come into town having won their last four after narrowly losing to then-No. 3 Clayton State and Francis Marion in their first two games.
These two squads last met up in a thriller in Lakeland in front of a national television audience on CBS Sports Network. With 3.4 seconds left in regulation,
Taylor Buie (So., Puyallup, Wash.) converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to give the Sharks a 61-58 lead. On the ensuing possession, Melanie Ducott of Florida Southern hit a 3-pointer from beyond midcourt to send it into overtime, and the Mocs outlasted the Sharks in the extra frame to win, 73-71.
Ducott has graduated, as did the Mocs' leading scorer on the season and in that game, Kirstin McIntyre (28 points). The Sharks are extremely familiar with returning sophomore Mariah Harris, who had double-doubles in each of the teams' two games last season (14 points, 10 rebounds in game one; 14 points, 11 rebounds in game two). She is currently tied for the league lead in rebounding this season at 9.2 a game.
The Mocs have three players in double digits in scoring so far this year: Taylor Maldonado (14.7), Cashala Thompson (12.0) and Ali Sanders (10.7). Maldonado, who missed 15 of the team's last 17 games a year ago due to injury, has not played in the Mocs' last three. Thompson, a junior college transfer, leads all SSC shooters with 3.2 3-pointers made a game, and is also tops in minutes played (33.7).
In all of the Sharks' six victories, they have placed at least four players in double digits in scoring. This past weekend, it was all five starters against Pitt-Johnstown, and four of them against Flagler. Junior guard
Danielle Robinson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) scored 14 and 22, respectively, and had 11 rebounds in the latter game. She earned the team's second SSC Player of the Week for her efforts, following
Richelle Carach (Sr., Naples, Fla.) in week one.
Saturday's game is the first in a women's and men's doubleheader, as the Sharks and No. 4 FSC men tip off at 4 p.m.. Streaming for both is available
at this link, and live stats for the women's game
here
SHARK STATS
• Buie continues to lead NSU in scoring, at 16.5 points per game, fourth in the SSC. She has scored 14 points or more in her last five games, and her 23 against Pitt-Johnstown set a new career high for the second time in six days. The sophomore also ranks second in the conference in both 3-pointers made per game (2.9) and assist/turnover ratio (2.5).
• Robinson is second on the team and sixth in the league in scoring (15.2). She is also third in the SSC in 3-point shooting (47.4 percent) after going 5-for-8 in the two Thanksgiving Classic games, and moved into the league's ranking in overall shooting percentage, to 11th, at 49.2 percent.
• Carach is tops in the conference in free throw percentage (95.5 percent, 13th nationally) and second in field goal percentage (70.5 percent, fourth in the country). She remains the only NSU player to score in double digits in every game thus far this season, and her average of 14.7 points in tied for seventh in the SSC. Her 7.2 rebounds per game is tops on the squad and eighth in the league.
• Shark point guard
Jessica Russi (Sr., Lake Mary, Fla.) leads the SSC and is second nationally in assists (8.0). She has had at least six assists in each of her last five games. In addition, she leads the Sharks and is third in the conference in steals (2.8), and her field goal percentage of 56.3 percent ranks eighth among all SSC shooters.
•
Jasmine Wilkins (Sr., Miami) notched her second double-double of the season, and seventh of her career, in the win over Pitt-Johnstown (13 points and 10 rebounds). Her field goal percentage (65.9 percent) and rebounding average (6.5) each are second on the squad and slot her third and tied for 14th, respectively, in the SSC.
• The Sharks also have the third-best free-throw shooter and fourth-best 3-point shooter in the conference, in
Amanda Burakoski (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y.) at 92.9 percent in the former, and
Alexis Murphy (So., Carlisle, Ohio) at 46.7 percent in the latter.
• As a team, NSU leads the conference in six categories (scoring offense, scoring margin, free throw percentage, assists, assist/turnover ratio and 3-pointers made per game) and is second in three more (field goal percentage, steals and turnover margin). Their highest rankings nationally as a team include scoring offense (eighth), scoring margin (13th), assists (13th), field goal percentage (14th) and 3-pointers made (16th).
For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit
www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by
clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by
clicking here.
