FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 24 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team begins the defense of their Sunshine State Conference tournament crown when they open up the 2015 proceedings at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida, tipping off the quarterfinal round on Thursday at high noon.
 
The Sharks (21-5, 13-3 SSC), as the regular season conference champions, are the No. 1 seed and will play Saint Leo (9-17, 4-12 SSC) for the second time in six days. They swept the season series against the Lions by defeating them 69-55 in Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 28 and 65-61 in St. Leo this past Saturday in the regular season finale.
 
In the two wins, Jasmine Wilkins (R-Sr., Miami) had 12 and 19 points, respectively, shooting nearly 64 percent from the field. Danielle Robinson (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) had 18 and 10 and made a total 13-of-14 free throws, while Jessica Valley (R-Jr., Lafayette, Ind.) had 11 rebounds in each contest, helping the Sharks to a 79-63 overall rebounding advantage.
 
All three of those players received All-SSC accolades on Wednesday, with Wilkins being named Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference, joined as one of the five named in the latter by Robinson. Both Valley and Monaye Merritt (R-Jr., Philadelphia) netted All-Newcomer selections.
 
In addition, head coach LeAnn Freeland was picked as the SSC Coach of the Year. She has won 75 percent of her games since taking the top spot at NSU three years ago, going 90-30 thus far with the program. The team has had three straight 20+-win seasons, three years in a row winning at least 11 conference games, and have taken either a regular season or postseason conference title each year. They are looking for the first dual crown season since 2007-08 with three wins this weekend.
 
Should the Sharks advance past Saint Leo, they'll have the same tip time on Saturday, taking on either No. 4 seed Florida Tech or No. 5 Tampa. The 2015 women's SSC Championship game is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Sunday is also the day of the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, which will be streamed live on NCAA.com at 10 p.m. Fans can click on THIS LINK closer to time to watch the live revelation of the brackets.