Southeastern Advances to Finals of TSC Tournament
SEU Sports Information
BOX SCORE
LAKELAND, Fla. – After a tight first half, the Southeastern women's basketball team came back in the second half to accelerate past Florida Memorial in the semifinal game of the Sun Conference tournament. At the end of the first half, SEU were down 33-32, and ended the night winning the competition 76-60. The Fire advance to the final game of TSC Tournament.
The Lions were the first out of the two teams to get on the board, scoring a 3-point field goal to start the game. Southeastern struggled in the first quarter, not scoring a point in the first 6:30 minutes of the game.
Senior,
Emma Karamovic came into the game with four minutes left in the quarter, scoring five points to tie the game. At the end of the first quarter, both teams were tied 7-7.
At the start of the second quarter,
Elsa Paulsson-Glantz sunk a three-point field goal to help the Fire take their first lead of the game 10-7.
With five minutes left in the first half, FMU tied the game 20-20. For the remainder of the half, the Lions showed their strength beyond the arc, shooting 54.5% at the 3-point line. At the end of the half, Florida Memorial was leading the game 33-32.
The third quarter was the deciding factor in the contest, with Southeastern going on a 16-point streak to take a 48-35 advantage against the Lions with 4:14 left to go in the frame.
Jaycee Coe, who finished the night with 24 points and seven rebounds, had five points in the stretch. The senior guard drained six of 11 shots beyond the arc in the competition.
Southeastern continued their dominance in the last quarter, going on an 18-9 run which gave the Fire the largest lead seen in the competition of 71-52 with 2:02 left in the game.
The Fire ended the game with a victory of 76-60 over the Lions with critical defending. Coach
Tim Hays comments, "We continued to defend throughout the game, and we didn't allow early missed chances to affect our performance down the stretch of the game."
SEU finished with a shooting percentage of 76.3% at the three-point line.
Marlena Schmidt contributed to tonight's win, scoring 16 points and totaling nine rebounds. Swedish-native, Paulson also performed well for the Fire, totaling ten rebounds and six assists.
The Fire will take on No. 3 seeded Coastal Georgia, who defeated No. 2 seeded St. Thomas in the semifinals, tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m. in The Furnace for the Sun Conference Final.