LAKELAND, Fla. – In a game where the Fire never trailed, the No. 8 Southeastern women's basketball team defeated the (RV) Keiser University Seahawks 84-67 in their second meeting of the regular season. With the win, the Fire improved to 16-0 on the season and 10-0 in Sun Conference play.
SEU quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the contest. The Fire have averaged scoring 4.8 points per game this season before opponents score their first point.
Senior forward
Christin Strawbridge was a key factor in the quick start for the Fire, totaling seven points and two assists in the first quarter. Strawbridge finished the game leading all scorers with 22 points. This was the seventh game of her SEU career with 20 points or more and her first this season.
Lights out shooting propelled the Fire to a commanding 49-28 lead at the half. In the first half, SEU shot 56.7% (17-30) from the field and an astounding 57.1% (8-14) from behind the arc. Both senior guard
Alyssa Ramos and junior guard
Jenny Dee were 3-4 from three point range in the first half.
"We knew Keiser was beating teams by winning the possession battle and overall defense. So what helped us a lot today was the fact that we came out right away, got in a rhythm offensively, found open shots, and knocked them down," shared Head Coach
Tim Hays.
The Seahawks opened up the third quarter on a 13-2 run. However, the Fire defense settled down and closed out the final 5:11 of play in the period on a 12-4 run of their own.
Keiser was only able to trim the Southeastern lead down to within 12 in the fourth quarter. The Fire forced seven turnovers in the final period of play and a total of 22 for the game.
Ramos finished the game with 15 points and four steals. Junior guard
Ana Richter was also a top performer for the Fire, finishing the contest with 17 points, five assists, and four steals of her own.
The Fire will look to stay hot as they travel to Lake Wales to take on conference rival Warner University next Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
