Eckerd's most recent Sunshine State Conference Championship came last season as women's basketball topped No. 19 Tampa, 75-69, to claim the SSC Tournament Title. It was the second tournament crown in program history.
Eckerd received the No. 2 seed in the tournament and survived a thrilling double-overtime victory, 87-80, over Rollins in the McArthur Center in the opening round.
EC breezed past Florida Southern, 74-60, in the second round to advance to the conference championship game for the third time in four seasons.
The championship remained a tight contest throughout as the teams stayed within one possession of each other for the majority of the game as there were ten lead changes and 13 ties throughout the game. Eckerd took a five-point advantage midway through the fourth quarter only to see Tampa pull within one point two minutes later. A Zoe Richards triple followed by an Octavia Loll layup put the Tritons up by six with two minutes left. EC's defense held strong down the stretch forcing Tampa to take several off-balance shots. Eckerd then made critical free throws in the final minute to seal the championship.
Mikayla Kuehne led Eckerd with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Loll followed with 17 points, while Eneritz Larranaga and Richards rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Kuehne was named the tournament MVP after averaging 19.3 points and 6.3 rebounds over the three-game stretch. Abby Whiteye and Octavia Loll were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
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Loll collected All-SSC First Team honors, Richards earned second team accolades while Maya Price was named to the all-newcomer team.
Loll was also a two-time SSC Player of the Week. Richards collected defensive player of the week honors twice while Price collected the award once as well.
Eckerd earned the No. 5 seed in South Regional, making its fourth straight trip to the National Stage and fifth all-time appearance.
The Tritons finished the season 24-5 and 17-3 in SSC play. EC ranked fifth nationally in field goal percentage and 14th in 3-point field goal percentage. Loll ranked 22nd in the country in assists and 31st in minutes played.
EC's 48.4 field goal percentage also set a new program record.
