Tritons Stay Hot, Drop No. 25 West Texas A&M

Box Score LAKELAND, Fla. - The Eckerd women's basketball team entered Saturday on a six-game winning streak, but faced its biggest test of the early season taking on No. 25 West Texas A&M.

Test passed.

The Tritons (9-2) took control in the middle quarters, then held off a late rally for a 73-63 win over the Buffs at the Terrace Hotel Classic at Florida Southern.

"Once again, our defense fueled us today as we held them to just seven points and 22 percent shooting in the second quarter," said EC head coach Paul Honsinger.  "I thought our execution was excellent over 40 minutes and that showed in our 58 percent shooting for the game."

A 13-0 run to close the first half was key, turning a tied game into a 40-27 halftime lead.  A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Victoria Vine capped it after EC made four of its final five shots of the half while forcing five turnovers.

The hot shooting continued in the third quarter as Eckerd made 8-of-10 shots from the floor and extended its lead to as many as 21 points.

The Buffs (8-4), who reached as high as No. 7 in the WBCA rankings, made a push late in the game by knocking down five straight shots - including three 3-pointers - and cut the deficit to nine with 29 seconds left.

But it was too little, too late against a Triton team that has made a habit of building big leads before the final quarter.

EC threatened to pull away early, using a 16-5 run in the first quarter to take a nine-point lead at the 1:40 mark, but West Texas A&M scored nine straight points to tie the game.  The Tritons followed shortly thereafter with 13 unanswered points to end the second quarter, and stayed in control for the rest of the game.

Eckerd was paced by strong performances from Victoria Vine and Kacie Juday who scored 20 and 19 points respectively and combined to go 12-of-19 from the floor.  They also shot 17 of the team's 19 free throws.

Anna Deegan added 11 points and was a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the arc.

The Tritons return to the floor on Friday, December 30, hosting Flagler (Fla.) College at 4:00 PM.