FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team arrived at the Rick Case Arena on Saturday ready to play their last regular season home game, honoring their senior teammates admirably, as they cruised to a 83-53 defeat of the Saint Leo Lions. It marks the Sharks' tenth in a row between the two teams, improving to an impressive 30-5 in the series history. The victory also held significant implications for the Sunshine State Conference Tournament, as it moved the Sharks a half-game ahead of the Tampa Spartans for fourth place with one game to play. Another win on Wednesday over the Lynn Fighting Knights would clinch home-field advantage for the Sharks in the first round of the tournament against the Spartans.
The Lions scored on the game's first possession, but it did not take the Sharks long to take control, gaining the lead that they would not relinquish just two minutes later. In fact, the Sharks held Saint Leo scoreless for the final seven minutes of the quarter, as the Lions missed 11 field goals in a row, while the Sharks used the drought to score the frame's final 14 points. The Lions ended the opening period with just four points, the fewest allowed by NSU in any quarter since the NCAA changed the women's game from two halves to four quarters going into the 2015-16 season, and made two of 15 field goal attempts.
The Sharks, meanwhile, broke a six-minute scoring drought of their own, in which they missed ten straight field goals, with a
Christen Prasse three-pointer, but the Lions only managed to cut the deficit down to ten points. Saint Leo answered with a 6-2 run to make it a single-digit game, before the Sharks defense stepped up again to keep them scoreless for the final three minutes and score the last nine points of the half. The Sharks maintained a 30-12 rebounding edge in the first half, including 8-0 on the offensive end, en route to their 33-15 lead at the break. Those 15 points were the fewest allowed by the Sharks in any half since their 2014-15 season began with the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers scoring a mere 13 on Nov. 14.
The Sharks continued to push their lead out of the break, with 14 free throws in 16 attempts. They reached their first 20-point margin of the game 33 seconds in, and flirted with 30 for the last five minutes of the period, entering the final frame up big, 56-27.
Defensively, NSU was able to take their foot off the gas a bit in the game's last ten minutes of action. Saint Leo was 0-for-6 on 3-point attempts in the first three quarters, but made 5-of-9 in the fourth, and they nearly doubled their total points, with 26. The Sharks offense, however, also played their best basketball in the fourth quarter, hitting on 62.5 percent of their 16 field goal attempts and eight three-point attempts.
Prior to the game,
Katie Barnard,
Samantha Logan and
Octavia Wilson were honored for their accomplishments to their program. Logan carried her emotion from the ceremony into the game, posting her team-high fifth double-double of the season, with 14 points and 11 rebounds. She was out-matched in both categories by
Christen Prasse, though, who led the team in nearly every stat, including assists (4), blocks (3), and steals (2), in addition to her second career double-double, on 22 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Prasse was nearly a perfect shooter on the day, missing just one of her 12 shot attempts; she was a flawless 3-of-3 both at the line and from beyond the arc, as well as 8-of-9 from the field. Wilson also reached double digits, with 10 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Joining the trio of starters in double figures was
Maria Bardeeva, who scored a career-high 18 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. The third senior, Barnard, meanwhile scored six points on 4-for-4 from the line, to go along with three rebounds and two assists. As a team, the Sharks muscled their way to 57 rebounds, their highest total since they had 58 in a double-overtime victory at Saint Leo on Nov. 21, 2015, and just six short of the program record, compared to only 25 for the Lions.
For Saint Leo, Chelsy Springs maintained her position as the conference's scoring leader with 17 points on 6-of-17 from the field and was the Lions' only double-digit scorer.
The Sharks will conclude the regular season by making the short trip up I-95 to Boca Raton, where they will take on the Lynn Fighting Knights on Wednesday, February 22 at 5:30 p.m. For complete coverage, visit NSUSharks.com.
