Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - At times this season, the Eckerd women's basketball team has dealt with some difficult offensive droughts.
On Saturday, the Tritons encountered one of those stretches in a 71-64 loss to Palm Beach Atlantic in the McArthur Center.
Eckerd (9-7) built a seven-point lead in the first quarter, but went cold in the second quarter going without a field goal for the entire 10 minutes. The Sailfish used the cold spell to their advantage, taking a 30-21 lead into halftime.
EC head coach
Paul Honsinger pointed to ball control a major culprit of the extended scoreless streaks like the one his team experienced today. The Tritons committed eight of their 16 turnovers in the second quarter.
"It was a matter of getting shots," he said. "We turned the ball over way too often and never gave ourselves an opportunity to score."
PBA (8-9) extended the lead to 12 early in the second half before
Anna Deegan made a baseline jumper to break the drought. Eckerd continued to fight back, pulling within four points in the third quarter and later got within one point in the fourth.
"We still gave ourselves a chance," Honsinger said. "We're doing enough good things at times but we're not putting it together for 40 minutes."
Chelsea Johnson's 3-pointer with 6:37 left made it 55-54, but Eckerd couldn't tie the game or take the lead from that point forward. PBA's Ayanna Holmes answered with a traditional 3-point play and followed an
Ashley Folsom layup with another basket to keep the Sailfish lead at four. The Tritons would not get any closer.
"We have to make better decisions down the stretch," said Honsinger. "Until we do, we aren't going to win these games."
Eckerd had a chance to get closer with under a minute left. Trailing by four, the Tritons had three good looks at 3-pointers but missed all three. Palm Beach Atlantic sealed the win by making 5-of-6 free throws in the final 24 seconds.
Despite the loss, EC placed four in double figures led by 13 from
Anna Deegan.
Margaret Sundberg,
Kacie Juday and Johnson all added 10 points.
Holmes proved difficult to stop, finishing with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
Eckerd returns to the floor on Wednesday as the second half of conference play begins with a visit to Saint Leo for a 5:30 PM tip-off. The Tritons won the first meeting between the two teams in November, 68-51.
