Box Score
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The No. 10 Nova Southeastern women's basketball team staved off an upset-minded Eckerd squad, winning in the Sunshine State Conference Championships quarterfinal round on Thursday night, 75-68 at the Silver Spurs Arena.
The Sharks (23-4), seeded third, and the No. 8 Tritons (11-16) exchanged nine lead changes and had 10 ties, the last coming with 5:47 left at 58-58. From there, NSU went on a 15-6 run, going ahead 73-64 with under a minute to go, and eventually winning by seven.
Jessica Russi (Sr., Lake Mary, Fla.) was just one rebound shy of a triple-double, with 13 points, nine boards and 10 assists. Three of those assists went to
Amanda Burakoski (Sr., Brooklyn, N.Y.), who led the Sharks with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and was 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
Jasmine Wilkins (R-Jr., Miami) was 6-of-8 from the field, and five of those makes came on passes from Russi. She had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Also in double digits was
Taylor Buie (So., Puyallup, Wash.) with 11 points, including three 3-pointers, while
Danielle Robinson (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) chipped in with eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. The Sharks outrebounded Eckerd for the game, 42-24.
NSU trailed by one at the half, 35-34, but came out of the break with five straight to take their biggest lead at that point, 39-35. Buie connected on a 3-pointer, followed by a lay-in by Wilkins, each coming off Russi assists. After two free throws by the Tritons, Russi hit a layup of her own, followed by another '3' by Buie (on another assist by Russi), putting the Sharks up seven.
From there, it was three straight scoreless runs. Eckerd notched the next eight in a row, going up 45-44, but NSU followed with eight straight of their own to push back out by seven (52-45). Then, a final 8-0 stretch by the Tritons made it 53-52, with 8:50 left, but that would be Eckerd's final lead. The dagger was a 3-pointer by Burakoski at 5:08, triggering the final 15-4 spurt to lead the Sharks to the win.
NSU won despite committing a season-high 26 turnovers, with Eckerd picking up 18 steals and winning the points-off-turnovers battle, 33-16. The Tritons were led by Ivana Grbic with 20 points, while Kayla Bowlin and Amy Buccilla had 19 and 16, respectively.
Next up for NSU is the No. 2-seeded Rollins Tars in the SSC semifinals, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Sharks and Tars split their regular season series, each winning on their own home floor by mirroring three-point margins: 63-60 NSU in Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 18, and Rollins winning in overtime in Winter Park on Feb. 15, 74-71.
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