Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 12 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team returned to the winning side of the ledger on Monday afternoon with an 87-77 win at the NSU Arena over Shaw.
The Sharks (6-2) turned a two-point halftime lead into as much as a 17-point advantage, largely due in part to holding the Lady Bears (5-4) to 27.3 percent shooting after the break. Shaw had shot 59.5 percent in the first half. Meanwhile, NSU made seven 3-pointers in each frame and shot a combined percentage of 49.3 overall, and 48.3 percent from behind the arc.
The big run of the second half was a 13-2 stretch by the home team, highlighted by 3-pointers by
Molly Blomer (Jr., West Chester, Ohio),
Jessica Valley (R-Jr., Lafayette, Ind.) and
Alexis Murphy (Jr., Carlisle, Ohio). That extended a five-point lead at 15:25 (54-49) into a 67-51 advantage with 12:22 to go. The closest Shaw got from there on out was the 10-point spread at the very end.
Valley led the way with a career high of 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and also had the game's high of nine rebounds.
Jasmine Wilkins (R-Sr., Miami) had 18 points and seven rebounds, while Murphy matched her career best with 15 points. She, Robinson and Blomer each canned three 3-pointers, while the latter two had 13 and nine points, respectively.
Facilitating the effort was
Monaye Merritt (R-Jr., Philadelphia), with a career-best nine assists while adding seven points. The Sharks had a season-high 26 assists in the game.
Wilkins needed 16 points to notch 1,000 in her career, and was nearly there at the half, scoring 14 on 7-of-11 shooting. She joined the exclusive club, as just the sixth NSU women's player to achieve the 1,000-point mark, with a layup early in the second half.
Shaw was led by Bryann Guyton's 15 points, with Tabatha Anderson adding 14 and a team-high seven boards. The Sharks held Verdine Warner, who came into the game averaging 24.6 points and 12.5 rebounds, to season lows in both categories, 11 and six. It also snapped her personal double-double streak at three straight games.
NSU will be back in action this weekend as they host their annual Shark Invitational. They will take on Albany State and Fayetteville State on Friday and Saturday, with the first matchup at 2 p.m. and the latter at 4 the following day.
