LIVE NSU AUDIO | LIVE ECKERD VIDEO | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 14 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team begins a stretch of 15 conference games out of 16 outings as they hit the road to take on the Eckerd Tritons this Saturday at 2 p.m. in St. Petersburg.
The Sharks (8-2, 0-1 SSC) have won three straight since the last USA Today Coaches' poll (Dec. 16), over Shaw, Albany State and Fayetteville State. Those three victories were taken into account in the Dec. 23 D2SIDA Media poll, allowing the team to move from No. 19 into a tie for 15th.
Eckerd (9-2, 0-1 SSC) has also been on a recent hot streak, winning four in a row and making their first appearance this season in the D2SIDA South Region poll, slotting sixth (the Sharks are second). The Tritons are 6-0 at home this year, and their last loss was their only conference matchup to date, a 76-60 decision on the road Dec. 6 against Florida Tech. The Sharks too fell in their only SSC tilt, with their 76-75 loss to Tampa coming on that same date.
Saturday's game will feature the two of the top shooting teams not only in the conference, but nationwide, with Eckerd at 50.8 percent and NSU at 48.5 percent. Those totals rank one-two in the SSC and are first and third, respectively, in all of DII. The Sharks and Tritons are also two of the top three scoring offenses thus far in the conference, with the Sharks second at 76.0 points per game and Tritons third at 72.5.
Defensively, the Tritons also have allowed the second-least amount of points per game in the SSC, at 57.3, which ranks in the top 20 in the nation, while their 34.7 field goal percentage against is also second league-wide and 12th in DII. Eckerd boasts the conference's top assist distributor, Kayla Bowlin, at 5.5, good enough for 18th in the country. Their leading scorer is Rana Thomas, at 16.2 points per game, third in the SSC.
NSU continues to rank highly among all DII teams in assists (17.9, 13th), 3-pointers made (7.6, 29th), and steals (11.0, 33rd). Individually,
Jasmine Wilkins (R-Sr., Miami) is second in the nation in field goal percentage at 67.7 percent, while
Kayla Wright (So., Lauderhill, Fla.) is 10th (61.4). Point guard
Monaye Merritt (R-Jr., Philadelphia) is second in the league in both assists (5.1) and steals (2.6), which slot her 28th and 47th nationwide, respectively.
Wilkins, with a team-high 21 and 17 points in the last two games, has emerged as the season leader in points per at 14.8, fourth in the conference. She moved ahead of current Shark assistant coach Abbie Tepe on the all-time scoring list last game, climbing to fifth at 1,040 (to Tepe's 1,029), and has Jennifer Havens' mark of 1,053 next in her sights. Teammate
Danielle Robinson (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) is third, and continues to inch towards the top two, with her total of 1,349.
The Sharks swept the regular season last year against Eckerd (69-50 in St. Petersburg and 84-48 in Fort Lauderdale), and also defeated the Tritons in the quarterfinals of the SSC Championships, 75-68. All-time, NSU leads the all-time series, 20-12, and have won five of the last six.
