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Game Notes
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 3 Nova Southeastern women's basketball team will travel to take on Tampa, who currently sits in second place in the Sunshine State Conference, with tipoff on Saturday scheduled for 2 p.m.
For the third straight game, the Sharks (15-0, 6-0 SSC) battled back from behind to stay undefeated, both in-conference and overall. On Wednesday, they trailed Florida Tech by six at the half, but outshot the Panthers 64 percent to 25 percent in the second 20 minutes to win, 80-71.
The team's two leading scorers on the year were each a basket away from their career high on Wednesday.
Taylor Buie (So., Puyallup, Wash.) and
Richelle Carach (Sr., Naples, Fla.) had 21 and 19 in the win. Buie had earlier notched 23 in a win in late November, while Carach's previous high of 22 came in mid-December. With 10 rebounds, Carach also notched her fifth career double-double.
Tampa (11-5, 5-2 SSC) won their third straight on Wednesday, topping Florida Southern, 72-62 despite being behind by as many as 14 in the contest. Shamika Williams paced five double-digit scorers with 21 points and also added 10 rebounds. The Spartans have won eight of their last 10 games, with the only losses coming to SSC foes Rollins (Jan. 4, 59-58) and Florida Tech (Jan. 11, 72-62), and are a half-game ahead of two 4-2 squads in the conference standings (Rollins and Saint Leo).
UT's top scorer and rebounder on the season is 6-3 sophomore center Taylor McVey, at 12.3 points and 7.9 boards a night. Those marks rank her 12th and tied for fourth, respectively, in the SSC, and her 52 percent field-goal shooting is fourth-best.
McVey's field goal percentage trails two Sharks, Carach and
Jasmine Wilkins (R-Jr., Miami), who are first and third, sandwiched around Chelsea Williams of Saint Leo. Carach is at 68.5 percent, which would top the nation as well, but she is one made shot short of qualifying. Wilkins' 60.3 percent is good enough for 10th in DII.
Also ranking among the nation's leaders are
Jessica Russi (Sr., Lake Mary, Fla.), second in assists at 8.7; Buie, with a 46.9 3-point percentage (seventh) and 3.1 3's made per game (ninth), and Carach again, 16th in free throw percentage at 90.2. All of these marks lead the conference as well.
The Sharks have five scorers ranked in the SSC's top 20: Buie (third, 16.8), Carach (seventh, 13.7),
Danielle Robinson (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ninth at 12.9), Wilkins (tied for 10th, 12.7), and
Amanda Burakoski (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y., 19th at 10.3).
As a team, NSU continues to lead all of DII in assists per game (20.9), and reclaimed the nation's top slot in field goal percentage (49.2) after being in fourth in the last report. The Sharks are also second in the country in 3-pointers per game (9.8), fourth in 3-point percentage (39.0, up from eighth), fifth in both scoring offense (86.0) and scoring margin (21.6), and 11th in assist/turnover ratio (1.23).
Tampa has high national rankings in turnovers per game (13th, 13.8) and scoring defense (14th, 57.7).
With a win over the Spartans, the Sharks have an inside track on the No. 2 national ranking, as previously-undefeated Emporia State was upset on Wednesday. No. 1 Bentley (17-0), NSU, No. 4 Colorado Mesa (15-0) and No. 6 Harding (18-0) are the last spotless teams in women's DII. Colorado Mesa plays Friday night; Bentley and Harding on Saturday.
Tampa will provide
live video and
live stats of Saturday's game. NSU audio can be found at
this link.
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