BASKETBALL GAMEDAY: Tritons Take On Florida Tech for SSC Championship

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Eckerd women's basketball team will look to win its first-ever Sunshine State Conference tournament championship today when the Tritons take on Florida Tech in the SSC title game at 1:00 PM.
 

Tampa (17-10, 11-7 SSC) vs. #10/18 Eckerd (24-4, 16-2 SSC)
WHEN	Sunday, March 5 | 1:00 PM
WHERE	ICI Center; Daytona Beach, Fla.
WATCH	Live Video (WatchESPN.com) | Live Stats
SOCIAL MEDIA	Twitter (@ECTritons) | Instagram (@EckerdTritons)
LAST MEETING	Eckerd 67, Florida Tech 52 (2/1/17)

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Eckerd, the conference's regular season champions, held off a fourth-quarter comeback by Lynn in the tournament's opening round for a 70-66 win.  In the semifinals on Saturday, the Tritons led for the majority of the game on the way to a 70-73 victory over the University of Tampa.  SSC Player of the Year Victoria Vine is averaging 12.5 points per game in the tournament while Anna Deegan averages 13.0 per game.  The Tritons have leaned on their perimeter game in the tournament, knocking down 21 3-pointers at a 45.7 percent clip.

Florida Tech entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed and made history yesterday after a 58-52 win over Florida Southern, becoming the first six-seed in SSC history to advance to the conference championship game.  The Panthers have overcome early 11-point deficits in both wins, coming from behind to win at No. 3 seed Rollins in the opening round, 73-70, before doing the same against FSC on Saturday.  Julie McCarthy averages 14.0 points per game during the tournament while Gudlau Juliusdottir averages 13.0 per game.

REGULAR SEASON RESULTS: Eckerd won both contests in the regular season by double digits.  Vine scored 17 points to lead the Tritons to a 65-53 win on November 16 in St. Petersburg, and Anna Deegan set the pace with 17 points in the rematch in Melbourne on February 1 in a 67-53 win.  Eckerd held FIT under 30 percent shooting in both games.

NEWS AND NOTES: Eckerd is making its first-ever appearance in the championship game...Florida Tech is looking for its fifth SSC tournament title but first since 2002. Current head coach John Reynolds was on the bench for all four of the program's titles...The Panthers have come up short in their last three trips to the championship game, last appearing in 2011 losing to Florida Southern...Eckerd's 25 wins are the most in program history...FIT eliminated Eckerd last season in the tournament quarterfinals...The Panthers are one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the SSC, averaging 15.1 per game...Eckerd leads the conference in scoring offense (70.6), scoring defense (55.5) and scoring margin (15.1)...Today's game is being broadcast on ESPN3 and on the ESPN app.