ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College men's and women's basketball programs will ring in the new calendar year with the 2014 Sunshine State Conference opener at home against Nova Southeastern University on Saturday afternoon.
The Tritons will welcome the Sharks for a doubleheader with the women's action tipping off at 2 p.m. before the men's contest is featured at 4 p.m. in the McArthur Center.
Live stats and video/audio will be provided and streamed on EckerdTritons.com.
For both Eckerd teams, their conference debut comes after an idle week in which the remaining eight institutions played a game towards the SSC standings before the holiday break.
The young and emerging Eckerd men's team is steadily finding its footing with a 7-4 overall record after assembling back-to-back wins at the Tampa Classic against Pfeiffer (N.C.) University and Miles (Ala.) College to close out the month of December.
In the last meeting between the two teams, the Tritons ended the Sharks' postseason aspirations to conclude the 2012-13 season in the Florida Blue SSC Championship, eliminating NSU in the opening round.
EC has an upper hand in the series history as of late, winning seven of the past eight meetings against the Sharks.
The Eckerd women are 6-3 and face a stout challenge in the nation's top shooting team against the fourth-ranked (WBCA Top-25) and undefeated Sharks as a battle of high-octane offenses collide.
But it's a familiar position for the Tritons against nationally rated Nova Southeastern, who have stunned the Sharks with a pair of respective buzzer beaters off the hands of
Taylor Bestry and Kati Rausberg away from their home floor in Fort Lauderdale.
This year, Eckerd ran off four consecutive wins to begin the season and held the title of the nation's best shooting team in terms of field goal percentage through the first week of the year.
Now with over 100 career wins in his tenure, EC Head Coach
Paul Honsinger has guided his program to a regular-season split against Nova Southeastern in 2012-13 and the season sweep over the Sharks in 2011-12.
