FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Looking for an edge against a Barry Buccaneers team coming in on an eight-game winning streak, senior leader Kayla Wright stepped up to guide the Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team to an 86-76 victory at the Rick Case Arena on Saturday afternoon.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
FINAL: W, 86-76
RECORDS: Nova Southeastern (7-4, 3-2 SSC), Barry Buccaneers (10-3, 3-2 SSC)
LOCATION: Rick Case Arena | Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:

1ST QUARTER | The two teams exchanged buckets to begin the game before the Sharks reeled off an 8-0 run with 3-pointers by Megan Piggott and Alison Hughes to take a 16-8 lead. After another layup from Wright, the Bucs got within four to end the frame with the Sharks in front, 20-16. Layups were a consistent theme through the quarter, counting as six of the eight field goals for each team.

2ND QUARTER | Barry cut the deficit to just one point early in the quarter, but the Sharks built their lead back up after another Alison Hughes 3-ball and a layup from Amanda Tivenius. The Bucs responded with a 7-1 run of their own to tie the game at 26-26 halfway through, for what would be the fifth and final time. The Sharks quickly broke out with 14 of the next 17 points to gain their first double-digit lead of the day, 40-29, before a Bucs buzzer-beater 3-pointer ended the first half in favor of the Sharks, 40-32.

3RD QUARTER | The Sharks kept Barry at bay in the second half, not letting the lead shrink below five points, and only briefly, at that. Twice, they led by as many as 12 points, and the game entered its final frame with the Sharks ahead by that same 8-point margin, 62-54.

4TH QUARTER | The fourth quarter played out much the same way as the third, with the Sharks making a big shot whenever they felt Barry getting too close. With a margin of only four points just over two minutes into the quarter, Wright rebounded a blocked Cheray Saunders shot and put it back up to stave off a streak of five straight Bucs points. The dagger, however, was an Alison Hughes 3-pointer with 2:19 on the clock after another 5-0 Barry run cut the lead down to five points. From there, the Sharks were able to coast for the last two minutes en route to the 86-76 win.

INSIDE THE STATS:

•    Wright's 33 points, on 13-of-19 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line, were one short of her career high, set at home against Shaw on Dec. 17, 2015. She also corralled a career-high 14 rebounds, exceeding her previous best of 13, set on Jan. 30, 2016 at Palm Beach Atlantic. Lastly, she matched her career-best 28 minutes, first set at Florida Southern on Feb. 27, 2016.
•    Saunders scored a new career-high, with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
•    The Sharks reached the 80-point plateau for the third straight game, and set a new season-high in team points for the third game in a row, as well. They also scored 20 or more points in all four quarters for the first time this season.
•    Christen Prasse made her return to the court, earning her first minutes of the season. In 22 minutes off the bench, she filled out the stat sheet well, scoring five points, collecting three rebounds, dishing out three assists, blocking two shots and grabbing one steal.
•    The Sharks dominated the boards, out-rebounding their opponent 42-34, including 33-21 on the defensive end.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

•    Despite entering the game sixth in the nation in 3-pointers per game (9.6) and 17th in 3-point percentage (37.5), the Sharks allowed Barry to make just 4 of their 25 attempts, 16.0 percent. The Bucs missed both their first and last eight, including all six in the first quarter and all seven in the fourth.
•    Wright scored 17 points in the first half and 16 in the second half. Saunders, meanwhile, scored 17 of her own in the second half. Prior to today, the only Shark with more than a dozen in any half this season was by Alison Hughes, who poured in 17 in the first half against Shaw on Dec. 19.
•    Wright also scored 10 points in both the first and third quarters. Only two Sharks had recorded double-digit points in any single quarter in the team's first ten games, and both of them were in losses: Wright, with 12 in the third at Union on Nov. 11; and Taylor Smith, with 10 in the fourth against Lee on Nov. 25.


UP NEXT

The Sharks will host the Eckerd Tritons on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m., before playing nine of their final 14 regular season games on the road.


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