MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women’s Basketball) – Briauna Hagins continues to write new chapters in Florida Tech’s record book as she became the first women’s basketball player in program history to reach and surpass the 1,000th rebound mark in Florida Tech’s 60-51 victory over Nova Southeastern Wednesday night at the Clemente Center.

The Panthers (15-7, 6-6 SSC) have now won three straight games and five of their last six. The Sharks (12-9, 5-7 SSC) fall one game behind FIT in the conference standings at a record of 12-9, 5-7 SSC. With Eckerd losing 67-61 to Florida Southern Wednesday, the Panthers are now tied with Eckerd for fifth place in the conference.

Hagins entered Wednesday’s game needing 13 rebounds to total 1,000 for her Panther career. At halftime, she had eight rebounds despite FIT trailing 30-26. She ignited an insurmountable 17-1 run at the start of the second half with one of her patented put backs. She ended the contest with a game-high 17 rebounds along with 12 points for her 12th double-double of the season. As of Sunday, she ranked 10th in NCAA Division II with 11.5 rebounds per game and 13th with 11 double-doubles.

“I can’t say enough about her, I just love the kid,” head coach John Reynolds said. “She means as much to me on the court as she does off of it. She has evolved in such a way since she started here. It’s been wonderful to watch her grow. She has truly developed into a complete human being. I can only imagine the things she’ll be capable of in the future.”

FIT has won six consecutive games at the Clemente Center. It has not lost on its home floor since Dec. 3 against Eckerd.

“I knew we would only get better as time went on,” Reynolds added. “We are peaking at the right time. I believe we have become a complete basketball team, but we need to keep on moving game by game without getting ahead of ourselves.”

Ashton McClairen had a game-high 15 points with three assists and two blocks. Kayk Wilson supplied 10 points. Katie Kingfield had three blocks and pulled down five rebounds.
 
The Panthers will take on fellow SSC counterpart Lynn Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Clemente Center. All fans are encouraged to wear pink for FIT’s annual breast cancer awareness game, now called Play 4Kay. Commemorative pink t-shirts will be available for donation to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, while supplies last. Live video, audio and stats will be provided at FloridaTechSports.com/live.