DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was another heartbreaking loss for the Embry-Riddle women's basketball team in the final game of the regular season on Saturday. The Eagles rallied late, but ultimately fell to Nova Southeastern (16-11, 11-9) 67-66 at the ICI Center.
The Eagles (11-14) closed out their Sunshine State Conference schedule at 9-11 and are the No. 8 seed in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament which gets underway on March 1. The Eagles will go on the road to face No. 1 seed Tampa in the quarterfinal round at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Saturday was Senior Day for
Shelby Bischoff,
Macee Sugrue and
Nikki Tucker and the trio combined for nearly 44 percent of the Eagles' scoring. Tucker led the way with 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists, while
Madyson Jean-Louis and
Liz Behan chipped in 10 and eight points, respectively.
Keturah Balabyekkubo matched Tucker's seven rebounds to go with seven points, three assists and three steals.
The Eagles dominated the first 10 minutes of play. They shot 57.1 percent from the field, were 66.7 percent from long range, and limited the Sharks to just three made field goals. Behind nine points from Tucker, the Eagles led 20-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The start of the second frame saw the Sharks go on an 8-0 run to close the gap to 20-16. The visitors cut the lead all the way down to one point (22-21) at the 7:21 mark, but the Eagles weathered the storm and at the halftime break, the home team led 32-27.
In the third quarter, the Sharks stepped up offensively, shooting 57.1 (8-of-14) percent from the field. McKenah Peters knocked down three three-point shots in the third and the Sharks scored 13 points off 10 Eagle turnovers to claim five-point (50-45) advantage of their own heading into the final period.
The Sharks continued to build on their lead in the fourth quarter and with 2:48 left in the game, they had extended the cushion to eight points (63-55). After an NSU miss on their next possession, Bischoff grabbed the rebound and found Jean-Louis who scored three points on a layup and a free throw to make it a five-point (63-58) game. On the Sharks' next trip down the court Balabyekkubo stole the ball from Peters and got it to
Jenna Teterycz who hit a trey to make the score 63-61.
Grace Gilmore finished a layup for the Sharks, but the Eagles came right back with a Tucker three-pointer to make the score 65-64 in favor of NSU with 1:16 left to play.
Following a series of misses and turnovers for both teams, the Sharks got the ball back with 11 seconds left. With fouls to give, the Eagles resorted to fouling on the next two Shark possessions which culminated in two Peters free throws that increased the NSU lead to 67-64.
With eight seconds left, the Eagles took the ball the length of the court, but their final look at the basket was only good enough for two points which allowed NSU to escape with the win.
The 2021-22 Embry-Riddle women's basketball season is presented by Daytona Mitsubishi.
