Box Score MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team had five double-digit scorers, four with 16 or more, as they outlasted Shorter on Saturday night, 87-68.
A back-and-forth first half saw five ties and eight lead changes, but also saw the Sharks (2-0) extend a late three-point lead (24-21) to 14 (39-25) with just under three minutes left. In that time frame, however, the Lady Hawks (0-2) cut the lead in half as the Sharks led 41-34 at the break.
In the second, the Sharks had a double-digit lead for about seven minutes before Shorter scored eight straight and cut it to five at 57-52 with 10:36 to go. A
Monaye Merritt (R-Jr., Philadelphia) layup and
Jessica Valley (R-Jr., Lafayette, Ind.) 3-pointer pushed it back out to 10 at 9:42, and over the last five minutes, the Sharks finished out with a 13-4 spurt to win going away.
Merritt and Valley were among the double-digit scorers, led by
Jasmine Wilkins (R-Sr., Miami) with 19 on 7-of-10 shooting, and also had seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
Danielle Robinson (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) had 18, with
Kayla Wright (So., Lauderhill, Fla.) getting 17 while going 8-of-12 from the field. Merritt had 16 points, six assists and three steals, while Valley was one rebound short of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards, and added four assists.
Ieshia Alexander led Shorter with 14 points, while Madison Rice and Maggie Peeples combined for seven 3-pointers and had 14 and 12 points, respectively.
NSU shot 56 percent for the game (28-of-50) and made 10-of-20 3-pointers. For the second straight game, they forced their opponent into 20+ turnovers, with Shorter committing 22 on Saturday.
Next up for the Sharks is the Pirate Classic in Savannah, Georgia, next weekend. They will play Clayton State next Friday, Nov. 21 at 5:30 p.m., and then the hosts, Armstrong State, the following day at 4.
