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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 8 Nova Southeastern women's basketball team will celebrate Senior Night as they try to keep hold of the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Sunshine State Conference Basketball Championships, taking on Florida Tech in the last home game of the regular season Wednesday night at the NSU Arena.
The Sharks (21-3, 11-3 SSC) will either be the SSC's second or third seed with two games remaining (Tampa clinched the No. 1 seed in the Championships with the win over NSU Saturday, as well as Rollins' loss that same day to Barry). NSU is currently No. 2, a half-game ahead of Rollins. The Tars are off tonight and only have their season finale with Florida Southern on Saturday remaining, as the Sharks wrap up the regular season on the road at Saint Leo.
Two NSU wins, tonight against the Panthers and Saturday over the Lions, would clinch the No. 2 seed and a 2:30 matchup against the ninth seed on March 6. If they were to fall to the third seed, they would compete in a 7:30 game, facing the SSC's No. 8 team that same day.
FIT (15-11, 6-8 SSC) is still alive for the fourth seed as they swept the current No. 4 Saint Leo, but would need help as they are two games behind the 8-6 Lions. The Panthers are currently tied with Barry at 6-8, while Lynn at 4-10 (including two wins over FIT) has a shot to draw even as well.
They have dropped five of their last seven games, with the last a 70-64 decision to Eckerd this past Saturday. The Sharks have lost two of three, including Saturday's 67-50 defeat at the hands of Tampa.
Prior to tonight's 5:30 tipoff, the Sharks will honor their four-member Senior Class of 2014:
Amanda Burakoski (Brooklyn, N.Y.),
Richelle Carach (Naples, Fla.),
Jessica Russi (Lake Mary, Fla.) and
Julia Salmio (Vantaa, Finland). They look to take the season series against Florida Tech, having defeated the Panthers on Jan. 22 in Melbourne, 80-71.
In that matchup, the then-No. 3 Sharks outscored FIT 31-9 to start the second half, erasing a six-point deficit, as FIT was ahead 35-29 at the break. NSU shot 64 percent in the second half (18-for-28) and was 7-of-12 from behind the arc (10-for-20 overall).
Taylor Buie (So., Puyallup, Wash.) had 21 points, on 7-of-10 shooting, and she was 5-of-7 on 3-pointers while adding five assists. Carach notched her second double-double of the season with 19 points (shooting 7-of-9 from the field) and 10 boards, while
Danielle Robinson (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) added 12 points.
Kayk Wilson, FIT's leading scorer and now tops in the SSC in that category (she was second at the time of the first meeting), was held that day to 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting, and didn't get into the scoring column until hitting two free throws with 13:58 to go in the game. Point guard Rita Acevedo topped the team with 17.
Wilson averages 19.8 points, not only best in the conference, but 23rd in the nation. Acevedo is next at 8.8 points and is fourth in the SSC at 4.5 assists per game. She leads all SSC players and is third in all of DII in assist/turnover ratio, at +2.57, only committing 46 turnovers in 26 games, against 118 total assists.
The Panthers are the league leader in turnover margin at +5.58, committing 360 (13.8 per game) compared to forcing 505 (19.4). They also top the conference in free throw percentage, at .735, and tie with Rollins for the team lead in steals, at 9.7.
NSU leads the SSC outright in six categories: scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, assists and 3-pointers made, and ties for the lead in assist/turnover ratio. Their highest national rankings are second in assists, third in 3-pointers made, fourth in field goal percentage, eighth in scoring offense and 10th in scoring margin.
Pregame ceremonies prior to the 5:30 tip can be seen and heard in full via live streaming
at this link. You can view live stats after the game begins
at this link.
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