LIVE NSU AUDIO | LIVE ERAU STREAMING | LIVE STATS FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 17 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team, coming off their first close loss of the season, embarks on a road trip to Daytona Beach Wednesday, taking on Sunshine State Conference provisional member Embry-Riddle at 5:30 p.m.
Prior to Saturday, The Sharks (20-4, 12-2 SSC) had won all nine games this season decided by less than 10 points, and three games that came down to the final possession, before falling with just seconds left to Barry, 67-65. That snapped a five-game conference winning streak and 13 straight such wins at home.
Yet still, even with the loss, the Sharks clinched at least a share of the SSC regular season title (their eighth all-time, fourth since joining the NCAA). They are two games up in the loss column over both Florida Tech and Florida Southern. The next Shark conference win gives them the singular honor; FIT and FSC can only earn their share by winning out with NSU losing both games past their next one.
However, Wednesday is an out-of-conference affair for NSU. The Sharks are 8-2 this season against those schools, with this being their final such opposition of the regular season ahead of two conference games. They will look to get back to their winning ways against Embry-Riddle (6-16), coming down the homestretch of their second year of existence and first in DII. In the two teams' first-ever meeting, on Jan. 2, the Sharks led wire-to-wire and were up double digits for all but the first 6:34 of the game.
ERAU's big gun is Sabrina Whiting at 15.2 points per game. Of the team's 53 in the previous matchup, she had more than half (27), at that point matching the top output by a Shark opponent. It is tied for second now.
Just ahead of her per-game is NSU's
Kayla Wright (Jr., Lauderhill, Fla.), 15.6, third-highest in the SSC.
Taylor Buie (R-Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) is tied for seventh, scoring 13.7 per, also ranking first in 3-pointers per game at 2.6 and third in the conference (39th nationally) in long-range percentage, 41.1 percent. Her next make from behind the arc will be the 200th of her career. Not to be outdone, Wright is 12th in the country and first in the league as she makes 58.2 percent of her shots.
Monaye Merritt (R-Sr., Philadelphia, Pa.) is the team's third-highest scorer at 10.3 and leads NSU in rebounds (6.0), assists (5.0, also first in the SSC), blocked shots (0.8) and steals (1.7). Besides scoring, Whiting is the Eagles' best free throw shooter, 3-point shooter (both makes and percentage) and also tops them in steals.
