ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern women's basketball team battled hard to erase a 21-point deficit to No. 22 Eckerd College in the final frame, cutting the host team to 12 points, but came up short, 64-52, on Wednesday evening.
 
The Tritons (14-3, 8-1 SSC) outscored the Sharks (10-7, 6-3 SSC) 23-10 in the first quarter on 60.0 percent shooting from the field compared to NSU's 27.3 percent. Down 17-7 with two minutes remaining, a layup plus one by Megan Piggott brought the deficit to seven points (17-10), the closest the two teams would get for the remainder of the game.
 
Despite shooting 60 percent from the field as a team in the second quarter, the Sharks were unable to close the gap as their six turnovers proved costly. Eckerd's defense was just as strong in the third, holding NSU to just nine points and forced five more turnovers. Overall, Nova Southeastern committed 23 turnovers compared to Eckerd's 14.
 
The fourth and final quarter was NSU's strongest of the night, posting a team-high 18 points on a blistering 72.7 percent from the field, while the defense held EC to 11 points, its lowest scoring frame of the game. The Tritons took their largest lead of the game (57-34) before the Sharks started to slowly chip away at the deficit, bringing the score to 61-49 with 2:38 to go, but were unable to rally as Eckerd went on to take the victory, 64-52.
 
Maria Bardeeva was the only Shark to reach double digits in scoring, tallying 11 points while adding four rebounds. Katie Barnard and Samantha Logan each posted eight points while Barnard contributed two assists and Logan had a team-high five rebounds, shared with Amanda Tivenius.
 
The Sharks will return to the NSU Arena to take on the Barry Buccaneers in the series finale. Earlier this season in Miami Shores, Fla., NSU buried the host team 71-46. For live coverage, head to NSUSharks.com.