ALBANY, Ga. – Despite turning in its worst shooting performance of the season, the Eckerd women's basketball team held off Albany State (Ga.) on the road Wednesday night, battling through a 30.6 percent effort from the floor to complete a season sweep of the Golden Rams.
HOW IT ENDED
Final: Eckerd 51, Albany State 47
Records: Eckerd 15-6, Albany State 7-16
KEY MOMENTS
- Both teams faced a slow start to the game with the Tritons netting their first points nearly three minutes into the game after a bucket by Chelsea Johnson. EC went three minutes before its next basket before Mikayla Kuehne basket started a run of five unanswered points. A traditional 3-point play by Johnson with 18 seconds left in the quarter put Eckerd up by four but a last-second layup by Albany State trimmed the Tritons' lead to two.
- ASU opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run to take a three-point lead, but a 7-0 Triton run minutes later put Eckerd back in front by three with 4:14 left. Albany State managed to pull within one point seconds later but Eckerd outscored the Rams, 11-3, over the final four minutes highlighted by three straight Triton 3-pointers to take a 30-21 lead into halftime.
- Both teams struggled from the floor in the third quarter as Albany State outscored the Tritons, 9-5, in the period. ASU scored the first points of the second half at the 6:14 mark while Eckerd went another two minutes before its first points after two Octavia Loll free throws. Despite the offensive struggles, Eckerd held a five-point lead to end the quarter.
- Two Johnson free throws to open the final period put the Tritons ahead by seven but an 8-0 Golden Rams run over the next two minutes gave Albany State a one-point lead. Eckerd responded with a 13-1 run over the next five minutes to hold a 50-39 lead with one minute left. Albany State managed to start to pull together a comeback scoring, six unanswered points to trail by five with 11 seconds left but a Johnson free throw with eight seconds left put the game out of reach as Eckerd held off the Rams for the 51-47 victory.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Johnson was the Tritons' only double-digit scorer with 20 points, marking the fourth time this season she has scored 20 or more points. Johnson also dished out four assists while grabbing three steals.
- Octavia Loll led Eckerd on the boards with seven rebounds while Yarden Danan and Armi Anttila grabbed six rebounds each.
- Eckerd shot a season-low 30.6 percent from the floor but held the Golden Rams to a 31.0 shooting percentage. In the January 2 meeting at Eckerd, the Tritons shot a season-best 57.1 percent.
UP NEXT
Eckerd returns to SSC action hosting Barry on Saturday for a 2:00 PM tipoff.
