Box Score LAKELAND, Fla. – Fire women's basketball notched its ninth straight win this evening, taking down the Night Hawks of Thomas University, 67-49. With the win they move to 14-3 on the season and 5-1 in The Sun Conference.
The first four minutes were home to Thomas' only two leads and two tie scores before the Fire took over for good at the 5:56 mark up 6-2. The Fire led 18-11 at the end of the first.
Just 16 points combined were scored in the second quarter. The Fire notched seven through six and a half minutes, and held the Night Hawks scoreless in the same time. The tides turned, however, when Thomas went on a 7-2 run to make it 27-18 at half.
Southeastern picked it up in the third, nearly doubling Thomas' efforts with 24 points to 13. Their largest lead was by 21, up 66-45 with 2:28 remaining in the fourth.
"Sometimes we rush ourselves in facing different styles of play," said Interim Head Coach
Leann Dahlstein. "Coming out at halftime we realized that we can make our shots and we don't have to rush it. Thomas plays a high-pressure defense, and when we adjusted to that our shooting improved."
Alyssa Ramos led all scorers with 17 points, sinking five of the Fire's 10 total long balls. She was an impressive 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.
Christin Strawbridge followed up with 16 points and 12 rebounds, good for her fourth consecutive double-double. She has nine total on the season.
Combined, the Fire were 42% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Night Hawks 42-41.
"We outrebound them and that was one of our goals," said Dahlstein. "There's always things we have to work on but I think our defense is getting better."
The Fire will take the floor again on Wednesday against Florida Memorial. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at The Furnace.
