ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's and women's basketball programs resume Sunshine State Conference play tomorrow afternoon, welcoming Nova Southeastern University for what promises to be an entertaining doubleheader in the McArthur Center.
The EC women will grapple against the Sharks at 2 p.m. followed by the men's contest approximately tipping off around 4 p.m. on Saturday.
For both Eckerd squads, it represents the first contest of the new 2013 calendar year after the men closed 2012 on a current three-game win streak and the women challenged a tough unit from Adelphi (N.Y.) University.
The Tritons' women (4-4, 1-0 SSC) are jammed at the top of the SSC leaderboard in a four-way tie for first early in the league schedule after beating then-No. 13 Rollins College back on Dec. 1.
EC's offense contains four players holding a double-digit scoring average, led by a 14.1 clip by junior
Liga Vente. Senior
Krystal Charles (10.0 ppg), coming off a season-high 20 against Adelphi, is joined in double figures by freshman
Annie Armstrong (11.4 ppg) and sophomore guard
Taylor Bestry (10.1 ppg).
Bestry is a perfect 20-of-20 from the free throw line this season and has made 30 consecutive tries dating back to last season.
Tomorrow's conference tilt is a rematch of the 2011-12 SSC Tournament quarterfinals when the Sharks ended the Tritons' season in St. Petersburg. EC had swept the regular-season series against the Sharks earlier in the year.
The Sharks (8-3, 0-1 SSC) recently tumbled out of the WBCA/
USA Today Top-25 Coaches' Poll after holding a No. 17 ranking in the last edition.
NSU suffered a conference-opening defeat against Saint Leo University on Dec. 1 despite 28 points from sophomore Danielle Robinson (15.0 ppg).
The Sharks are powered by a handful of Division I transfers headlined by Amanda Burakoski (13.6 ppg) from St. John's University, All-SSC guard Meixandra Porter (17.5 ppg) from Colorado State University and Tailor Jones (9.8 ppg) from Northwestern University.
Eckerd has won four of the past five meetings against Nova Southeastern in the respective women's series history.
The EC men are winners of four of their last five, including a 2-0 showing at the University of Tampa Classic post-Christmas.
The Tritons (6-2, 0-1 SSC) have put an SSC-opening loss at Rollins behind them in the rearview mirror and are aiming to extend a 36-11 advantage (four straight wins) in the overall series history against the Sharks (6-3, 0-1 SSC).
During the holiday break, junior guard
Alex Bodney scored a career-high 25 points against Tuskegee (Ala.) University and senior
Darrien Mack answered with a personal-best 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting in the next game against Paine (Ga.) College.
Senior forward
Walade Wade, runner-up in last year's SSC Defensive Player of the Year voting, is projected to make his season debut tomorrow, marking the near-completion of his rehabilitiation from an injury suffered to his shooting hand.
The Sharks have also won their last three consecutive games and come into tomorrow afternoon with their top three scorers (Lukas Roesch, Justin Jeangerard, Iran Hollis) shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Nova Southeastern turned heads in the non-conference schedule against No. 7 University of Southern Indiana with a one-point win and took on No. 5 Bellarmine University the day after.
Live stats and video/audio will be available for both games on EckerdTritons.com.
