ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With the start of the 2009-2010 women's basketball season, the Eckerd College Tritons (1-0) clinched their first victory in the season opener on Sunday as they faced the Northwood Seahawks (0-1). They defeated the Seahawks by a score of 66-43, as they led from wire-to-wire.
Coach
Paul Honsinger was thrilled with the outcome of the game, despite the fact that he did not know much about the opponent.
“I think winning always feels good but the season opener is really important. We do have a younger team and I think learning how to win is just as important as anything with a young team. They have to get that confidence up and developed, and hopefully we covered a little bit of that today.”
The Tritons were off to a roaring start, as
Kati Rausberg scored the first basket with a layup in the second minute of play. She contributed a total of 13 points for the entire game. With eight minutes left in the first half,
Stephanie Grace stole the ball, sparking a fastbreak and finishing it with a pass down the court to Brittney Taylor for a layup that gave the Tritons a 29-15 advantage.
Ashley Lutz came back minutes later with another steal and continued down the court for a layup on the right side. The Tritons held a 14-point advantage over the Seahawks after the first half, as the score was 37-23.
Going into the second half, Honsinger wanted to hold the margin to 14 to 20 points by executing a the half court sets they have been working on at practice.
Tijana Brdar helped the cause with a layup in the first minute of the second half, as Lutz followed up with a jumper and layup minutes after.
For the game, Eckerd shot 51.9 percent from the field, whereas the Seahawks shot 25.4 percent. Brdar tallied 14 points and 9 rebounds for the Tritons, with Rausberg adding 13 points and Lutz with 12 points.
The Tritons will continue their season as they face Valdosta State on Saturday November 21 in Valdosta, Ga. Although this team is a challenging opponent, Honsinger believes that his team will carry over the confidence from the previous game in order to help them achieve another victory.
“I'm just hoping that with the win we got under our belt today, we can carry some of that momentum, go back watch the game film, learn from some of the things we did not do well, and then carry that over to Valdosta. If we could get a win over at Valdosta then that would be great for us.”
