Balanced Offense Sets Tone as No. 21/24 Tritons Best Nova Southeastern

Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - At the beginning of the week, the Eckerd women's basketball team knew its next two games were crucial.

After winning at Tampa on Wednesday, the Tritons capped the week with another key road win over Nova Southeastern on Saturday defeating the Sharks, 66-46.

The win was important in several ways.  First, it marked only the second time in program history for Eckerd to reach 20 wins in a season.  It also was the first time that the Tritons swept the regular-season series from NSU since 2011-12.  Finally, it kept EC in first place in the Sunshine State Conference standings and assured the team a top-three finish in the final standings.

Four players scored in double-figures as the No. 21/24 Tritons (20-4, 13-2 SSC) held off several efforts by Nova Southeastern to turn momentum in its favor.

"We had balanced scoring today and our defense stayed aggressive," said Eckerd head coach Paul Honsinger.  "We received a good lift from our bench and had a lot of contributors.  It was another strong team win."

Eckerd never trailed and nearly led from wire to wire, taking the lead for good just three minutes into the game on a layup by Ashley Folsom.  EC jumped out to a 17-7 lead but Nova used strong rebounding to keep the game close, pulling within four points in the second quarter before the Tritons took a 31-25 lead into halftime.

After EC scored the first six points of the third quarter and extended its lead to 13, the Sharks (14-10, 10-6 SSC) pulled back within six at the four-minute mark and had a chance to get closer after stopping the Tritons on their next possession.

It didn't happen, however, as Eckerd forced a turnover and rolled off seven unanswered points.

Still, NSU managed to stay close enough to keep the Eckerd lead from being comfortable. A Christen Prasse 3-pointer cut EC's lead down to six with 5:35 to play, but the Tritons closed the game by scoring on their final eight possessions and ending it on a 14-2 run.

Kacie Juday led Eckerd's balanced offense with 13 points.  Ada Yalcin and Ashley Folsom each had 12 while Anna Deegan added 11.  EC shot 48 percent from the field while holding the Sharks to 26.9 percent, marking the sixth time this season that the Tritons have limited opponents to under 30 percent shooting.

Eckerd has a bye on Wednesday before hosting Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday, February 18, at 2:00 PM.