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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 14 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team has the opportunity to clinch at least a share of the Sunshine State Conference regular season title as they host Barry on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the NSU Arena.
 
With a win, the Sharks (20-3, 12-1 SSC) can do no worse than tie for the league's best record, and will be the postseason tournament's top seed by virtue of sweeping second place Florida Tech already this year. If the Sharks defeat Barry and FIT falls to Rollins, it would be mean NSU would earn the outright SSC title and still be the No. 1 seed. Also, no matter how the last four games play out, it has already been determined that the Sharks will host an SSC quarterfinal matchup on March 2.
 
But first and foremost, it will be a tough local rivalry matchup versus currently the league's No. 4 team in the standings, Barry (15-7, 7-5 SSC). The Bucs just had a four-game losing streak snapped on Wednesday by those same aforementioned FIT Panthers, 68-62. They are a game behind Florida Southern at 9-4, and both Eckerd and Tampa trail the Bucs by a game, each at 6-6.
 
In the first tilt between the teams, in Miami Shores on Jan. 13, the Sharks prevailed 73-65. Four Sharks were in double digits, paced by Kayla Wright's (Jr., Lauderhill, Fla.) 17. She has been the team's top scorer nine times this season, and has a squad-high 19 double-digit efforts. This past Wednesday, she led the team off the bench with 25, her fourth game at that mark or higher, seventh of 20 or more.
 
Wright leads the SSC and is 13th in DII in field goal percentage, making 58.8 percent of her shots. She is also third in the league in scoring at 16.0, only a tenth of a point behind Barry's Amra Elezovic. Additionally, Elezovic is the Bucs' top rebounder and paces them in both field goal and free throw percentage, that latter mark seventh in the nation (91.3 percent). Her 20 points was the team's best in the loss to NSU in January.
 
Also for the Sharks, point guard Monaye Merritt (R-Sr., Philadelphia, Pa.) is the team leader in rebounds, assists, blocked shots and steals, and is the conference frontrunner in assists as well. With nine on Wednesday against Tampa, she was only one shy of a triple-double (to go along with 12 points and 10 rebounds). The only other triple-double in women's history was turned in by legendary post player Stephanie Sarosi, who had 32 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocked shots against Florida Tech on Jan. 21, 2009.
 
Wednesday's win is the 13th straight SSC win at home for the Sharks, and gave the team their fourth straight 20-plus-win season among LeAnn Freeland's five years as head coach. Prior to her tenure, the program had surpassed that mark only once in 13 years. Two more victories will give the team 300 in history.