ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – After controlling the first half, the Eckerd College women's basketball program was unable to carry momentum over in the final period and eventually fell victim to Barry University in the McArthur Center on Saturday afternoon, 69-55.
In a battle of two teams looking to rise up to the middle of the pack in the Sunshine State Conference standings, the Tritons (7-7, 1-4 SSC) earned a nine-point lead at the half before the Buccaneers (9-5, 2-3 SSC) turned the tables by outscoring their opponent, 43-20, in the final period.
After shooting nearly 54 percent from the floor in the first half, the Eckerd offense struggled to the tune of a 16.7 percent clip (4-of-24) in the final 20 minutes of regulation, including an uncharacteristic 1-of-11 from long range to end the game.
"I thought we executed well in the first half," said EC head coach
Paul Honsinger. "We were moving the ball inside-out and shooting the three's with confidence. We've just had a really hard time putting a full 40 minutes together this year and fell off in the second half."
"We weren't as aggressive on the interior (in the second half) and our ball movement wasn't as good," he said. "The finishing wasn't as sharp and that turns into a very lopsided half not in our favor."
The conference's leading scorer, Tyler Hardy, led all players with 18 points as she collected a double-double with 10 rebounds. She came in averaging just under 20 points per game on the year.
Barry ended up with nine more made field goals than EC in the second half and took advantage of an eventual 44-23 edge in the rebounding department.
Kaylia Richardson scored 16 points and Nyjah Porcher added 11 to aid the Barry offensive cause.
Junior guard
Kayla Bowlin led three Eckerd players in double figures with 16 as junior guard
Rana Thomas dropped in a pair of three-pointers and senior
Liga Vente had a dominant first half to finish with 10 points.
Freshman
Sarah Ammons keyed Eckerd's first-half charge with five points off the bench and was on the floor to begin the second half in a starting role after foul trouble affected the Tritons' frontcourt. Senior
Amy Buccilla led the team with five rebounds and drilled a three for the 14th consecutive game as part of her seven points.
Bowlin, playing in all 40 minutes for another game, gave the Tritons their largest lead of the game going into the break by sinking a fall away buzzer beater from the baseline as the horn expired.
Out of the break, the Tritons endured a six-minute stretch without a field goal before Bowlin put Eckerd up by three with 13:41 left in regulation on a layup.
Two minutes later, a trip to the free-throw line by Richardson resulted in a 39-39 tie and gave the Bucs their first lead since the 14:49 juncture in the first half.
Barry then went on a 6-0 run, including a pair of shots muscled in by Hardy at the rim, to take control and pushed the lead to double-digits for the first time with a three from Ines Karin with six minutes left to play.
The Tritons will hit the road next week for a pair of conference games at Saint Leo University on Wednesday and a tussle at Florida Tech (in Cocoa, not Melbourne) on Saturday.
