MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women's Basketball) – A rough shooting night sank Florida Tech in its matchup with Sunshine State Conference leader Eckerd on Wednesday night as the Panthers' skid moved to three games in a 67-52 loss to the Tritons at the Clemente Center.
DeLise Williams finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. The junior did much of her damage at the charity stripe though, going a perfect 7-of-7 in the game.
Michaela Gelbaugh added 10 points, while
Markeema Crawford and
Tereza Sedlakova scored nine points apiece. Sedlakova and
Julie McCarthy guided FIT on the glass with six rebounds each.
Four different Tritons reached double-figures in points, led by Anna Deegan's game-high 17 points. Kacie Juday and Victoria Vine each chipped in double-doubles in the win. Juday tallied 14 points and a game-high 11 boards and Vine notched 11 points and 10 rebounds. Ashley Folsom contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Panthers struggled from the field in the contest, shooting 29.4 percent (15-of-51) and 3-of-14 from beyond the arc. EC went 38.5 percent (20-of-52) from the field and made 7-of-17 three-point attempts. Eckerd also controlled the rebounding department in the game 44-28, including an 18-13 edge on the offensive glass.
FIT's only lead in the contest came at 4-3 on a McCarthy lay-up with 7:24 remaining in the first quarter. From there it was all Tritons as they scored 14 unanswered points to take a 17-4 advantage at the 3:10 mark of the opening period.
The Panthers would only come as close as seven points the rest of the first half as the Crimson and Gray went into halftime trailing 40-30.
FIT cut Eckerd's lead to nine points, 45-36, with 3:21 remaining in the third but the Tritons answered on the other end with a three-pointer by Miriam Hannoun to build their advantage back to double-digits.
A 10-2 run by the Panthers early in the fourth quarter decreased their deficit to just four, 55-51, with 6:20 to go in the contest. However, the Tritons' defense would clamp down the rest of the game, holding FIT to just one free throw. EC then closed the contest scoring 12 of the final 13 points and earned the season sweep of the Panthers.
Florida Tech will look to get back on track on Saturday, Feb. 4, as it travels to Fort Lauderdale for a SSC showdown with Nova Southeastern at 2 p.m. ET. The Panthers defeated the then 22nd-ranked Sharks 57-46 on Dec. 3 in Melbourne. Fans can access links to live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com.
