FIT STREAMING | NSU AUDIO | LIVE STATSFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team will travel in-conference again on Tuesday, for a midweek matchup in Melbourne against a fellow undefeated Sunshine State Conference squad in Florida Tech.
The Sharks (4-0, 2-0 SSC) needed double overtime, but overcame Saint Leo on the road Saturday, 85-82. They are looking for at least a five-game win streak to open the season for the third consecutive year, but will have to push past the Panthers (3-0, 1-0 SSC), untouched out of the gates as well.
FIT has defeated Claflin and Tampa on the road, the latter their only SSC matchup this far, with the most recent contest coming on Saturday against conference provisional member Embry-Riddle, a 75-65 home-opening win. Shequana Harris led four double-digit scorers for the victors with 23, and her 20.7 points per game is third in the league, 1.7 points ahead of Shark
Taylor Buie (R-Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) in fourth.
Buie last week had point totals of 17 and 26 in NSU's two wins, with the 26 vs. SLU matching her career high. Like her,
Monaye Merritt (R-Sr., Philadelphia, Pa.) has scored 10 or more in all four Shark games, including her first ever double-double Saturday, with 11 points and 21 rebounds. She is at 14.5 points per, eighth in the conference, with
Kayla Wright 13th at 12.5 after an 18-point performance that same night.
Ida Krogh (Sr., Aarhus, Denmark) and Merritt and are tied at the top for NSU in rebounding, eighth in the SSC, at 6.3. Julie McCarthy leads FIT and is second in the conference at 9.3.
Buie continues to lead the league's shooters in 3-pointers made per game with 3.5, and
Molly Blomer is first (10-for-10) and Merritt is fifth in free throw percentage (82.4), with Merritt attempting 15 more from the line on the season than anyone else. That duo each averages 3.8 assists a night, tying for fourth, with Buie's assist/turnover ratio of 1.9:1 third-best among all players in the SSC.
Also for the Panthers, Harris leads the league in steals (2.7 per), while Diamond Cooper is tied for the blocked shot lead (2.0). Harris is fourth in field goal percentage and sixth in free throw percentage, with teammate McCarthy fourth in the latter at 86.7 percent.
FIT is one of only three in-conference teams to hold an all-time series advantage over NSU, 22-14. The Sharks have won the last two, a sweep a season ago, and five of the last eight. Against the then-No. 9 Panthers in Fort Lauderdale, the 20th-ranked Sharks won 73-52 on Jan. 24; then in Melbourne on Feb. 21, with FIT No. 20 and the Sharks unranked, NSU prevailed again, 78-73.
