Box Score MIAMI SHORES, Fla. - Three weeks after handling Barry University in St. Petersburg, the No. 23/25 Eckerd women's basketball team repeated the feat on the road, sweeping the regular season series with an 80-65 win over the Buccaneers on Saturday afternoon.
The victory marks the first time since the 2012-13 season that Eckerd (17-3, 10-1 SSC) took both regular season contests from the Bucs. Â It also keeps the Tritons in first place in the Sunshine State Conference standings with six conference games remaining.
The Tritons never trailed and the game was only tied once. Â Attacking Barry's zone by getting the ball into the middle, EC created plenty of open looks on the way to shooting 58.0 percent from the floor and 62.5 percent from 3-point range.
"We moved the ball well today and had a strong offensive attack," said Eckerd head coach
Paul Honsinger. Â "We had balance inside and out with multiple players in double figures."
Fending off a hot-shooting start by Barry (5-15, 3-9 SSC), the Tritons systematically built a 16-point lead just before halftime.Â
Still, the Bucs managed to stay close enough to keep the Eckerd lead from feeling comfortable. Â Lexy Schoonover made a 3-pointer from the right corner as time expired in the first half to cut the Triton lead to 42-29, and Barry was within 10 points with 2:45 left in the third quarter.
Chelsea Johnson answered with a 3-pointer on EC's next possession, however, and the Tritons later put the game away with a 14-2 run to open the fourth quarter after making good on their first five shots of the frame.
"Whenever Barry hit shots," Honsinger said, "we answered."
Ashley Folsom led Eckerd with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting while Johnson tied her career high with 16 points. Â
Anna Deegan scored 13 of her 14 points in the first half and
Victoria Vine added 10 to round out EC's double-digit scorers.
The Tritons' lead in the SSC grows to 1.5 games over Tampa and Nova Southeastern.
Eckerd returns to the floor on Wednesday, traveling to face Florida Tech at 5:30 PM.
