Tritons Finish Strong, Retake First in SSC with Win at Lynn

Box Score BOCA RATON, Fla. - When the Eckerd women's basketball team hosted Lynn in November, the Tritons held them to only three points in the first quarter.

In the January rematch in Boca Raton, the Eckerd defense repeated the feat, this time in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 65-40 win and complete the regular-season sweep.

The win moves Eckerd (15-3, 9-1 SSC) back into sole possession of first place in the Sunshine State Conference, a half-game ahead of Florida Southern which was idle today.

"Early on, we missed some easy shots inside but we continued to defend," said EC head coach Paul Honsinger.  "Holding any opponent to 40 points is a great defensive effort."

After a back-and-forth start, the Tritons took control with a 12-3 run over the last four minutes of the first quarter to take a nine-point lead. EC scored on four straight possessions during the run, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Chelsea Johnson.

The Knights (8-9, 3-7 SSC) stayed even with Eckerd in the second quarter, pulling as close as four points before EC extended the lead back to nine at the break at 35-26.  The trend continued in the opening minutes of the third quarter after the first of two free throws by Brekia Henderson made it a six-point game.

As it turned out, Lynn missed its best chance to further narrow the gap over the next minute.

Henderson missed the second free throw and, after a Triton turnover, the Knights failed to convert a breakaway layup.  Lynn wouldn't get closer than six points for the rest of the game, and the final two minutes of the third quarter turned out to be a sign of what was to come as EC scored the last six points of the frame for a 49-37 lead.

The Knights went just 1-of-13 in the fourth quarter and were held scoreless over the last 6:44 of the game.

Meanwhile, the Tritons drew fouls and got to the free-throw line early in the quarter before two more Johnson 3-pointers helped push the lead to 20 points.  Eckerd scored the final 11 points of the game on the way to a 25-point win.

Kacie Juday led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting while Johnson came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points on a perfect 4-of-4 performance from both 3-point range and the free throw line.

"We had great contributions from our bench on both ends of the floor," Honsinger said.

Eckerd limited Lynn to just 29.1 percent shooting in the game.

The Tritons return to the floor on Wednesday looking to avenge one of its only losses on the season when they host Embry-Riddle at 5:30 PM in the McArthur Center.