LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Eckerd Tritons women's basketball team collected its ninth straight victory on Saturday at the FSC Holiday Classic, defeating the Southern Wesleyan Warriors by a score of 95-58.
Nearly three minutes of scoreless play went by to begin the game until
Jaylen Ostenson notched the first points at 7:11 with a layup. Ostenson collected the next five points by herself to make it a 7-0 scoring run, all while the Eckerd defense held the Warriors without a point through the first 5:15 of action.
Sarah Racaud's triple around the three-minute mark gave the Tritons their first double-digit lead at 15-3 before seeing it reach 13 late in the quarter. The Tritons held the Warriors to just three made field goals through the opening frame and led 21-8 entering the second.
The second quarter featured the highest-scoring performance from both teams in the game, with the Tritons winning the frame 28-21. Ostenon's basket two minutes in gave Eckerd an 18-point advantage, but Southern Wesleyan used an 8-2 scoring run later in the quarter to get within as little as 10. A three by
Savannah Borowicz halted the momentum and jump-started a 10-0 run for the Tritons in the final four minutes. The Warrior hit three free throws in the final seconds to make the score 49-28 in favor of Eckerd. Both teams shot well in the second quarter, with the Tritons posting a 73 percent mark and 11 made shots.
In the third, the Warriors won the first five minutes and closed the gap down to 16, but the Tritons quickly saw their lead climb back out to 22 after back-to-back triples from
Hekla Nokkvadottir and
Kailyn Terrell. The cushion reached 29 points after another last-minute three and put Eckerd up 72-43 with 10 minutes remaining. The Tritons hit 57 percent of their looks in the fourth, which included five made from long-range, and posted a plus-eight advantage to close out the 37-point victory.
As a team, the Tritons hit 16 total threes and shot 41 percent from behind the arc in the win. Both Borowicz and Nokkvadottir had four made triples off the bench and each finished with 16 points. Ostenson and
Ieva Korzane were the team leaders with 17 apiece, while Racaud also added 13 points on 5-6 shooting.
With the win, Eckerd improves to 9-2 on the year. The team will be back in action on New Year's Eve to host No. 6 Nova Southeastern.
