LAKELAND, Fla.—A dominant second half effort by the top-seed in The Sun Conference Tournament pushed the Fire to an 84-58 win over Thomas.
With the win, the Fire will make their first Sun Conference championship game appearance in program history tomorrow against county rival Webber International.
Southeastern (23-5) led 49-40 at the end of the third quarter, and started the fourth on a 19-1 run to take a 27-point lead with 6:04 to play. The Fire would lead by as many as 32 in the fourth quarter as late as the 1:04 mark of the period.
"Basketball is a game of runs," said interim coach
Leann Dahlstein. "I think we adjusted and came out ready to go in the second half. We've had some rough patches with close games, but we found a way to win."
During the third period, the Night Hawks (14-14) got the deficit down to two with 6:07 to play, but the Fire answered with four straight points by
Carlie Newman to keep the guests at bay.
Just hours after being named The Sun Conference Player of the Year, junior
Christin Strawbridge totaled her second highest scoring total of the year with a game-high 23 points and team best 12 rebounds.
Kristen Scholl chipped in 19 points and five rebounds off the bench.
"Kristen came in and played with a lot of heart and passion, and that's why we started her in the second half," said Dahlstein of Scholl. "When you get that from your bench, it makes it that much easier for the starters and brings up team morale."
The Fire and Warriors split the season series with each winning on the road. The Fire won the most recent meeting in Babson Park on February 13
th 73-68.
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at The Furnace.
