ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Junior guard
Rana Thomas carved out a career-high 21 points and the Eckerd College women's basketball program ended a frustrating spell by taking care of business at home against Palm Beach Atlantic University on Saturday afternoon, 78-71.
The Tritons (8-10, 1-7 SSC) downed the Sailfish (7-16 overall) for the second time this season to end a six-game slide, including a pair of back-to-back overtime losses.
EC had just completed the first half of the Sunshine State Conference schedule on Wednesday and was ready to get back on the winning track to begin the month of February after routing PBA in West Palm Beach back in November.
Senior
Amy Buccilla sustained her season-long marksmanship from beyond the arc with 17 points, senior forward
Liga Vente scored 13 points before fouling out and junior guard
Kayla Bowlin netted a dozen.
Eckerd hit a total of 10 shots from long range while shooting just under 45 percent for the game. Palm Beach Atlantic was paced with a game-high 26 from Kasie Parker.
Thomas was 7-of-11 from the field, converted a trio of three-point baskets and tied for the team lead by pulling in seven rebounds. She surpassed her previous single-game high of 20 set last year against Saint Leo University.
"I felt like we worked really hard in this game and we need to keep pushing," Thomas said. "We just needed to bring some energy (in the second half); we've been in this situation before and we told ourselves that we need to do it this time. It was a great win."
After Thomas scored the first five points of the game in the opening minute of play, Eckerd broke open a tight contest and ended the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 10-point lead into the break.
The Tritons led by as many as 14 with 6:48 left to play, but the Sailfish started to chip away and brought the deficit to six after consecutive three-point plays by Jaz Green and Taylor Buchanan.
Junior forward
Ivana Grbic drove the lane to help regain momentum with a layup and the three-point ball again was a big factor coming down the stretch.
Bowlin pulled up in transition and knocked down a big three from the top of the key to restore a double-digit lead and Thomas lined up another shot from the corner to put EC back up by 12 with 2:22 left in regulation.
Three players had four fouls for Eckerd's roster just outside the final six minutes of regulation. Buccilla, Vente and Grbic, eventually picked up their fifth fouls.
Palm Beach Atlantic was in the bonus with over 14 minutes in the second half and took 21 shots from the line resulting in 30 overall for the game.
Buccilla sank four three-point shots from deep and has made at least one trifecta in all 18 of Eckerd's games this season.
The Tritons will be on the road next week as the SSC schedule resumes. Eckerd's midweek game will be on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale against No. 5 Nova Southeastern University with a 5:30 p.m. tip-off scheduled from NSU Arena.
