LAKELAND, Fla. – As they approach the home stretch of the regular season, the No.7 Southeastern University women's basketball team will look to preserve its unblemished record and continue momentum heading into The Sun Conference Tournament. The Fire are coming off an 84-49 rout of Florida Memorial University last Wednesday night. The Fire will face off against Johnson & Wales University in The Furnace on Thursday night before hosting a rematch with the Lions on Saturday for Senior Day.
GAMES: Southeastern (22-0, 14-0 TSC) vs. Johnson & Wales (3-23, 2-12 TSC) Thursday 7 p.m. | Southeastern (22-0, 14-0 TSC) vs. Florida Memorial (10-14, 8-6 TSC) Saturday 5 p.m.
COVERAGE: JWU:
Live Stats/Video FMU:
Live Stats/Video
SENIORS FOR DAYS: Southeastern will honor
Cassidy Block,
Bailey Hooker,
Sarah Green,
Alyssa Ramos,
Christin Strawbridge, and
Victoria Trowbridge as graduating seniors on Saturday evening. The Class of 2017 has certainly made their presence felt, combining for 4,338 points, 1,797 rebounds, 831 assists, 390 steals, and 246 blocks and counting during their playing careers at SEU. The group has also shot a combined 45.2% from the field all-time. This season, seniors have accounted for 72.3% of points scored by the Fire. To have such an abundance of veteran leadership is both a blessing and a rarity, as Southeastern is one of two teams in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 with six seniors who average 10 minutes or more per game.
PREVIOUS JWU: The Fire faced off against the Wildcats earlier this season in North Miami on January 5. SEU dominated all facets of the game in the 92-54 victory, outrebounding JWU 44-27 and outscoring them in the paint 52-18. Junior guard
Ana Richter led all scorers with 21 points while Block had her season high of 17. Southeastern leads the all-time series versus Johnson & Wales 19-3.
PREVIOUS FMU: The Fire will look to tame the Lions once again in their second meeting in 10 days. In the previous matchup, Strawbridge recorded her 11th straight double digit scoring effort and third double-double of the season with a 20 point, 10 rebound game. Her performance earned the Lakeland native her second consecutive Sun Conference Player of the Week honors. Southeastern leads the all-time series versus Florida Memorial 10-6.
THE WILDCATS: After snapping a 10 game winless streak versus St. Thomas on January 28, JWU finds itself in the middle of a four game drought once again. Struggles on the glass continue to hex the Wildcats, as they are being outrebounded by an average 10.78 boards per game. Junior point guard Diamond Williams leads the conference in points scored with 443 and averages 17.04 per game. Junior guard Bevin Mays has also come on strong as of late, averaging 16.6 points over her last five contests.
THE LIONS: Florida Memorial is coming off a 70-58 win over Keiser. The Lions currently seed fourth in the conference standings, but have the opportunity to climb the TSC ladder as high as second depending how they close the regular season. Junior forward Ashley Henry as had the hot hand for Florida Memorial as of late. The Chicago, Ill. native is averaging 11.6 points in her last 10 games after averaging just 3.1 points previously on the season. Henry dropped a team best 16 versus SEU in the previous matchup.
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