MELBOURNE, Fla. – Florida Tech women's basketball opened its Sunshine State Conference slate Saturday, Dec. 1 as they welcomed the Eckerd Tritons to the Clemente Center. It was a game that had huge momentum shifts throughout. But at the final buzzer, Florida Tech fell, 56-65.
Gracie Doane took her usual spot as the Panthers' leading scorer with 16. Sophomore, Fanny Hakanson five boards were a team high, while three women tallied three assists.
The Panthers dominated the early portion of the contest as the team jumped out to a 7-0 lead in under two minutes of play. However, the offense slowed a bit as the Tritons started to pick it up and the teams started to trade buckets. Eckerd did hit their stride late in the quarter as they tallied an 8-0 run in a shade over a minute and a half worth of play.
After that outburst, both teams went cold till Gudlaug Juliusdottir broke the scoring drought with 17 seconds left. This bucket pushed the score to 15-15 as the teams went back to their respective benches.
The second quarter was similar to the first as the Panthers dictated the pace for much of the period but a 9-0 EC run in the final 2:08 of the half give the Tritons the lead, 29-28, heading into the locker room.
Unfortunately for Tech, the third quarter was controlled by Eckerd as they outscored the Panthers, 16-8. This was in large part due to a four-minute scoring drought that pushed the Tritons ahead for good. At the end of the three, the score was 45-36.
The final 10 minutes of play was a true slugfest as both teams traded point for point from the beginning to the end. This showed itself in the box score as both teams put up 20. This left the Panthers with a nine-point loss with the final score being 65-56.
Florida Tech will turn its sights towards the Spartans as they welcome Tampa to Melbourne, Florida next Saturday, Dec. 8. Tip-off for this contest is set for 2 p.m. ET.
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