FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 7 seed Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team (17-11) will begin play in its fifth straight NCAA South Regional tournament starting Friday, March 10 at 2:30 p.m. EST in an opening round matchup against second-seeded West Florida (25-6) in St. Petersburg, Fla. Top-seeded Eckerd will host the 2017 NCAA South Region tournament, which will be held in the McArthur Center.
NSU will face off against the Argonauts, who fell to Valdosta State in the Gulf South Conference Tournament finals this past weekend. The winner will move on to the regional semifinals to square off against the winner between No. 3 seed Benedict College and sixth-seeded Valdosta State, which is scheduled for noon, just prior to the Sharks tipping off at 2:30. Benedict, a member of the SIAC, and Valdosta State, out of the GSC, both won its respective conference tournaments the week prior. The regional semifinal is scheduled for Saturday, March 11 at 5:00 p.m.
The Sharks are no stranger to succeeding in NCAA South Regional play, as they have won three out of the last four regional crowns to advance to the Elite Eight. This is the first time since the 2014-15 season the Argos will be competing in the tournament, and the first time the Sharks and the Argos will be facing off in 10 years. The last time both programs met was during the 2006-07 regular season. UWF is 2-0 in the series between the two teams.
Sharks' Opponent
West Florida, the top seed entering the Gulf South Conference Tournament after earning the regular-season crown, fell in overtime of the conference tournament championship game to Valdosta State by a score of 91-79. The Argos lean heavily on GSC Player of the Year, Alex Coyne, as well as Toni Brewer and Katie Bobos to run their offense. Coyne has averaged 10.5 points, 6.7 assists and 2.8 rebounds this season and ranks second in the NCAA in total assists (207) and third in assists per game. Brewer averages 13.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, ranks seventh in NCAA with 17 double-doubles, eighth in rebounds per game and seventh in defensive rebounds. She has put up 24 double-figure scoring games and 19 double-figure rebound efforts, including three games with at least 20 boards. Joining Coyne and Brewer in double-digit scoring is Bobos. She and Brewer are the only players in the GSC averaging double-doubles with 12.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
Nova Southeastern
The Sharks are paced by starting guard
Christen Prasse, who was named to the Sunshine State Conference Second Team after averaging 11.9 points per game. Prasse also adds 4.4 assists a game, which remains a league-high, as it has throughout most of the season. The next two leading scorers,
Megan Piggott and
Samantha Logan, are also strong shooters for NSU as Piggott converts 39.7 percent from beyond the arc while Logan connects on 40 percent of her attempts from the field. Piggott holds the role as the team's strongest shooter from the line with a solid 85.0 percent from the charity stripe. Logan also holds the No. 1 spot in the conference with her 8.7 boards per game, helping her earn a place on the 2016-17 SSC All-Newcomer Team.
"Since our last game, we have had a lot of time to sharpen up our fundamentals and get a little tougher," explained head coach
LeAnn Freeland-Curry. "Our players were very disappointed by our one-possession loss to Tampa in the first round of the SSC Tournament and have used it as motivation in practice the last seven days. They were fired up on Sunday night when we saw we were heading to our fifth straight NCAA tournament and taking on a new opponent in West Florida."
Game time is 2:30 p.m. EST, the second game of the day. Available ways to follow the Sharks during regional tournament play are at the top of this page.
