Box Score 2014-15 Women's Sunshine State Conference Championships
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The No. 24 and top-seeded Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team advanced to the Sunshine State Conference title game (to be broadcasted live online on ESPN3) by overpowering fifth seed Tampa in a dominating 67-40 semifinal win Saturday at the Silver Spurs Arena.
Early on, the game was close, with the Sharks (23-5) and Spartans (17-11) tied at 16-16 with 8:24 to go in the first half. Two NSU possessions later, Shark offensive rebounders found their way to two loose balls, allowing
Molly Blomer (Jr., West Chester, Ohio) to hit an open 3-pointer on a third-chance opportunity for a three-point lead.
Though Tampa scored to cut it to one at the 6:50 mark, that would be the last points they would score before the break. During that span, NSU went on a 10-0 run, culminating in a
Monaye Merritt (R-Jr., Philadelphia) '3' with five seconds to go to send them into the locker room with a 29-18 lead.
Merritt hit a short jumper to start the second half before Tampa came back with four straight of their own to make it a nine-point game, 31-22. Merritt and UT's Juliana Cavallaro would then trade 3-pointers, and twice in the following minute, the Spartans cut the lead to seven before the Sharks broke the game open.
Seven straight points made it 43-29 at the under-12 media timeout, and in all, it was a 17-3 Shark run and a 21-point advantage at 7:21 (53-32). NSU would lead by 19 or more the remainder of the game in their second straight 20+-point victory.
Merritt was tops for all scorers with 16 points, on 6-of-9 shooting while adding four assists. Jessica Valley (R-Jr., Lafayette, Ind.) had 11 points and was 3-of-4 from behind the arc, while three Sharks – Blomer, Alexis Murphy (Jr., Carlisle, Ohio )and Jasmine Wilkins (R-Sr., Miami) had nine points apiece. Blomer had a 3-of-5 shooting line from 3-point range, while Murphy and Wilkins each had seven boards.
They along with Danielle Robinson's (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) season-high 11 rebounds allowed the team to hold a 40-28 advantage over Tampa. They also forced 15 Spartan turnovers, with UT only gaining two assists on the afternoon.
Tampa was led by Aisha Rodney, who scored their first eight points but would only end up with 10. The Sharks held All-SSC First Team member Cavallaro to seven points, all in the second half, on just 3-of-11 shooting.
The stifling Shark defense held UT shooters to just 2-of-15 on 3-pointers and just 28.3 percent overall for the game, by far the lowest percentage by an NSU opponent this season (35.7 percent by Florida Southern in February). The 40 points scored was the second-least given up by the Sharks all season.
NSU now will face the winner of No. 3 seed Eckerd and Barry, the seventh seed, in Sunday's conference championship, again to be shown live online on ESPN3. Tipoff will be at 1 p.m.
