Florida Memorial Advances
BOX SCORE
The Lady Lions of Florida Memorial University (19-12, 10-8) traveled to Ave Maria University (21-9, 11-7) to take on the Gyrenes in the first round of The Sun Conference tournament on Tuesday night.
The Lady Lions looked like they were in for a long night early in this game as the Gyrenes jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the first quarter. Macarena Corral, of Ave Maria, scored the first 8 points, secured a defensive rebound, and had one assists for the Gyrenes in the first quarter. Although the Gyrenes pounced on the Lady Lions early in this game the Lady Lions were able to tie the score at 16-16 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the trio of Battle sisters would take over for the Lady Lions. Brianna Battle would score 11 points, Tyesha Battle would score 10 points, and Kanesha Battle would score 10 more. In total the Lady Lions would score 33 points to take an 18 point lead into the half. The Battle sisters accounted for 31 of the Lady Lions 33 points in the second quarter.
The Gyrenes would make some adjustments after the Lady Lions built a 23 point lead midway through the third quarter and begin to cut down the Lady Lions lead. The Lady Lions lead was at 15 points at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Gyrenes made an incredible come-back as they were desperate to not let their season end on their home court and got to within 2 points with just over 2 minutes to play. Brittany Howard fouled Sarah Miller of Ave Maria, and she hit both free-throws to get to within 2. However, Brianna battle would hit a layup in the paint in the very next procession and give the Lady Lions a 4 point lead. The Lady Lions would build a 10 point lead late in this game and eventually capture the first round victory sending the Lady Lions to The Sun Conference semi-final game against Southeastern University on Friday night at 5:30 p.m.
The Gyrenes would own the glass, out-rebounding the Lady Lions 33-51. The Gyrenes bench would dominate the Lady Lions bench out-scoring them 16-26 and the Gyrenes second chance points (6-22) was a big factor in their come back. However, the difference in this game was the free-throw shooting. The Lady Lions held the advantage by shooting 90% from the charity stripe compared to the Gyrenes 70%. The Lady Lions shot 36% from the field and 38% from the 3-point arc. The Battle sisters accounted for all ten of the Lady Lions made 3-pointers.
Leading the way for the Lady Lions was Brianna Battle, in only her second game back from an injury, she secured a double-double, 32 points and 11 rebounds. Kanesha Battle had 16 points and Tyesha Battle had 12 points.