NSU AUDIO | VSU STREAMING | LIVE STATS FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 3 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team looks to rebound from their first loss of the season, as they travel to Georgia on Sunday afternoon to take on Valdosta State at 2 p.m.
The Sharks (5-1) fell to Washburn Friday at the NSU Arena, 70-60. In order to avenge that defeat, they would have to be the first team this season to knock off the undefeated Blazers (4-0), in a series that is currently in VSU's favor all-time, 10-3.
Three of VSU's four wins this seasons have been single digits, against Tuskegee (57-49), Eckerd (48-45) and Albany State (56-51), to go along with an 83-37 rout of Trinity Baptist. They have only allowed 45.8 points per game, and to this point, have held opponents to 33.2 percent shooting and 18.8 percent from 3-point range.
Prior to Friday, the Sharks were averaging 82 points a contest, so nearly 40 above the VSU opposing average, but were 22 points below that against Washburn. However, in head coach
LeAnn Freeland's tenure at the school, covering four-plus seasons now, the Sharks are 20-7 following a loss, having only lost two games in a row twice over the last three years.
The NSU offense has seen quite a bit of balance to start the 2015-16 campaign, with six players averaging five points a game or more, and seven different Sharks notching a double-digit scoring effort thus far, a combined 21 times.
Monaye Merritt (R-Sr., Philadelphia, Pa.) has scored 10 or more in every game;
Taylor Buie (R-Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) in all but one; and
Kayla Wright (Jr., Lauderhill, Fla.) in all but two.
Merritt, who slots in between Buie (15.5) and Wright (13.0) on the team at 13.8 points per game, is the Sharks' leader in rebounds (6.8), assists (4.0), steals (1.5), blocked shots (1.2) and free throw percentage (77.6). All of those team highs, besides steals, rank among the SSC's top eight individuals.
These two teams haven't met since they played home-and-home in Freeland's first year, 2011-12, with both wins taken by the Blazers (53-48 in the season opener for both squads on Nov. 11 in Fort Lauderdale; 65-54 in Valdosta on Dec. 30).
Danielle Robinson, a current member of the coaching staff, led NSU in scoring in both games. The last Shark win in the series took place exactly two years prior to that most recent game, on Dec. 30, 2009, in Valdosta, 67-59. In that game, the other NSU assistant coach,
Abbie Tepe, set two separate school records, becoming the program's all-time career leader in both assists and steals. She still holds both marks to this day.
