Defense Paces Tritons in Win at Valdosta State

Box Score VALDOSTA, Ga. - The Eckerd women's basketball team got a balanced offensive effort and an aggressive defensive effort on Saturday to pick up its first win of the season, building a 20-point lead early in the third quarter and never letting up on the way to a 72-56 victory over Valdosta State (Ga.) University.

One day after getting on the wrong end of a 20-point deficit, the Tritons started strong and only got stronger as the game progressed.

The second and third quarters were the difference as Eckerd (1-1) outscored the Blazers during the 20-minute stretch, 44-20.

"Our defense paced us today," said EC head coach Paul Honsinger.  "We played with a lot of energy on the defensive end and did a nice job taking away their strengths.  I also thought we shared the ball great today and took a step forward in our execution."

Defense certainly made a difference in the middle quarters as Eckerd held VSU to 6-of-28 shooting during the stretch.

The Tritons began to take control midway through the second quarter, using a 15-3 run to aid in building a 38-26 lead at halftime.  EC then went on a 9-1 run to open the third quarter, extending its lead to 20 points with 5:10 left in the quarter.

A 3-pointer by Victoria Vine to beat the buzzer at the end of the third gave the Tritons their largest lead of the game at 59-35.  The Blazers got no closer than within 15 points of Eckerd's lead for the remainder of the game.

EC walks away from opening weekend with a pair of strong performances against regional opponents from the Gulf South Conference.

"I'm happy that the team was able to pick up the win today because we competed hard in both games this weekend," Honsinger said.

Four Tritons reached double figures as Vine and Anna Deegan both scored 16 points, Vine for the second day in a row.  Kacie Juday added 14 while Ashley Folsom chipped in 11.  Juday narrowly missed a double-double, pulling in a team-high nine rebounds.

Eckerd limited VSU to just 29.6 percent shooting in the game and forced 17 turnovers, which were converted into 16 points.

The Tritons open their home schedule on Wednesday, hosting Florida Tech in conference play at 5:30 PM.