FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team won their 2015-16 lidlifter, opening up the NSU Tipoff Classic with a 102-61 rout of North Alabama on Friday afternoon at the NSU Arena.
 
The Sharks (1-0) started the game and season off strong, coming out of the gates with an 11-1 run and holding a lead of 29 at the halftime break (57-28) in the wire-to-wire victory. At that point, they were shooting just under 65 percent, and ended the matchup at a 55.7 success rate (39-of-70). NSU also dominated the rebounds, with 32 compared to UNA's 11 in the first half, and a final margin of 56-24. In her first official game back for the Sharks after a redshirt season, Taylor Buie (R-Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) scored 18 of her total of 25 in the first two quarters, just one off of her career high. In 25 minutes on the floor, she was 10-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

"Our team came out and executed very well for most of the game," said head coach LeAnn Freeland. "It is encouraging to see us rebound the ball so well together, as our defensive rebounds enabled us to push the tempo and get easy looks in transition."

During the third quarter the Lions reduced the margin by six points, but it was not nearly enough as the Sharks tightened up the defense in the fourth quarter, only allowing the visitors to score a total of eight points in that frame while pouring in 26 to reach triple digits. 
 
Monaye Merritt (R-Sr., Philadelphia) also contributed greatly to the monumental Shark win with totals of 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists off the bench. Another honorable mention, in her NSU debut, was Ida Krogh (Sr., Aarhus, Denmark), who scored all her 10 points during the first half and also had a game best of nine rebounds. The leading distributor was senior Alexis Murphy (Sr., Carlisle, Ohio), who assisted her Shark teammates on five made baskets, making her the leader of the game. All told, the Sharks had 22 assists.
 
In addition to those performances, Mary Hirt (So., Hartland, Wisc.) was very active in the second portion of the game and closed her books with a total of 10 points, matching her career standard, including a perfect 6-of-6 mark from the line. Katie Barnard (R-So., Granger, Ind.) surpassed hers by one with nine points, while achieving new career bests of seven rebounds and two assists. To top it all off on the defensive side was fourth-year senior Molly Blomer (West Chester, Ohio) with a new individual best of eight rebounds, while Kayla Wright (Jr., Lauderhill, Fla.) had seven. They added six and eight points, respectively. 

"It is great to see four in double figures and 54 points off the bench," added Freeland. "Our depth should be a major strength of ours this season."

As a unit, in addition to the bench point advantage (54-11), the Sharks also held a great margin in points in the paint (50-20) and second chance points (13-3). The team was buoyed late by true freshman Megan Piggott's (Ponte Verdra, Fla.) two buckets for four points, while Ashley Arinus' (So., Parkland, Fla.) hit a 3-pointer in the waning seconds to push the team up and over 100. She had five points and two steals in the game, and was one of 12 Sharks in the scoring column.

North Alabama (0-1) was led by Shunice Herron with 15 points, while KeKe Gunter and Elise Holden each added 10.
 
The Sharks' next contender will be the Lee University Flames on Saturday evening, beginning at 8 p.m. at the NSU Arena to wrap up the Tipoff Classic.