FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 21 Nova Southeastern women's basketball team grabbed yet another win in the NSU Arena on Saturday afternoon, finishing their play in the 2016 NSU Thanksgiving Classic with a 77-67 win over Armstrong State University. With the win, the Sharks now stand at 5-1 on the early season while ASU falls to 3-4.
 
Despite being down six points (8-2) early in the first quarter, the Sharks came back with 10 unanswered points, sparked by a layup by Maria Bardeeva, to take the lead, 12-8, and never looked back, leading the way through the rest of the game.
 
At 34-25 in the second quarter, a jumper by Bardeeva started yet another Shark run, as a layup by Prasse and a three-pointer by Samantha Logan gave the home team their biggest advantage of the half, 16 points at 41-25. Two more layups by Cheray Saunders capped the scoring for NSU in the first half, sending the Sharks into the break with a 45-33 lead.
 
After the break, Armstrong took advantage of a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to seven points (47-40). A trey by ASU's Machala Raymonville brought the Pirates within nine (52-43), before a shot from beyond the arc by Prasse pushed the Sharks back into a double-digit lead (55-43). The Sharks would maintain that double-digit lead throughout the remainder of the third, with their biggest lead of the game coming at the 1:20 mark when Prasse split a pair of free throws to go up 64-47.
 
Although the Pirates held the Sharks offensively in the fourth period, Megan Piggott accounted for five of NSU's 11 points scored, connected on 5-of-5 free-throw attempts. As a team, the Sharks were also perfect from the line, finishing on top, 77-67.
 
For the second-straight game, Prasse was one of the top scorers with 19 points to go along with a game-high eight assists and three steals. She also added seven boards. Cheray Saunders tallied a career-high 19 points to lead the way with Prasse, after going 7-for-12 from the field. Logan recorded 12 points and Piggott had 14, going 9-for-9 from the line.
 
ASU was led by Jessica Doyle, who had 18 points, and Mercedes Jenkins, who put up 16 points to go along with a game-high eight steals and three assists.   
 
The Sharks will hit the road again on Wednesday, returning to Sunshine State Conference play as they take on the Buccaneers of Barry University. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and live stats and video can be found on NSUSharks.com.