BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University secured home-court advantage in the first round of the SSC Conference Tournament this Wednesday evening, earning a 65-58 victory over the host Fighting Knights of Lynn University. The win improves the Sharks to 17-10 overall and 12-6 in SSC play, while Lynn falls to 10-15 and 4-13 against league opponents.
 
The first quarter was all Sharks as NSU came hot out of the gates on an 11-0 run in the first five minutes. The Sharks held the Fighting Knights to just 11.1 percent shooting en route to a 16-6 advantage heading into the second quarter.
 
The Knights seemed to wake up a little more in the second quarter, using a 14-8 run to come within four (24-20) of the Sharks at the 3:33 mark. A three-pointer by Samantha Logan and a layup by Octavia Wilson pushed NSU back out to a nine-point lead before Lynn fought back to close the gap to four points once more, with less than a minute on the clock. That would be the closest the Knights would get in the first half, however, as layups by Logan and Bardeeva gave NSU a 33-25 lead heading into the break.
 
A low-scoring third quarter and the Sharks' lowest shooting performance (25.0 percent) didn't stop the visiting team from maintaining their lead. A layup by Christen Prasse at the 5:08 mark, her 100^th career field goal as a Shark, gave NSU a seven-point lead at 36-29. Starting with a pair of made free throws by Janay Williams, the Knights started to chip away at NSU's lead, cutting the deficit to three points (36-33) with 3:20 remaining. Lynn was able to stay within five points of the Sharks for the next 40 seconds before back-to-back treys by Prasse and Logan put NSU up by nine (44-35) entering the final frame.
 
A layup by Amanda Tivenius and a pair of split free throws by Logan gave NSU its largest lead of the game (47-35) just a minute and a half into the fourth. Four minutes later, still up by 10, Lynn used a three pointer by Jaylen Snipes and took advantage of a turnover by the Sharks to cut NSU's lead in half, 52-47. After traded layups, Nova Southeastern continued to pull ahead, capitalizing on a 7-of-9 performance from the charity stripe, to finish on top, 65-58.
 
Prasse once again headlined for the Sharks, recording a game-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from the line. The junior guard also chipped in six rebounds, a game-high six assists and two steals. Logan recorded her second double-double in as many games, putting up 10 points with 13 boards. Bardeeva added six rebounds and nine points, seven coming from the first quarter alone.
 
Along with earning the title of host for the SSC quarterfinal, the Sharks also moved up to No. 7 in the NCAA South Region rankings, released earlier Wednesday afternoon. Official NCAA postseason selection will be announced after the SSC Championship on Sunday, March 5.  
 
The Sharks, the No. 4 seed, are set to host the No. 5 seed, the Tampa Spartans, on Wednesday at the Rick Case Arena at 7:00 p.m. For live coverage, keep an eye on NSUSharks.com or follow us on Twitter @NSUSharks or @NSUWBasketball.