AVE MARIA, Fla.—The No.1 ranked Southeastern women's basketball team defeated Ave Maria 70-54 to improve their record to 17-2 and advanced their win-streak to 16. Junior shooting guard M'caela Sellers sparked the Fire in their victory with 22 points and four rebounds. The Liberty University transfer missed just one of her 11 shots in the effort.
Southeastern struggled to stop the Gyrenes out of the gate and found themselves trailing by two after the first quarter. Sellers kept the Fire in the game early with 14 points in the opening quarter.
The Fire responded with an impressive second quarter, outscoring Ave Maria 20-7 to take a 38-27 lead into halftime. Despite not converting a 3-PT attempt in the first 20 minutes play, Southeastern still shot 55.6% from the field as well as 66.7% from the free-throw line.
Ave Maria wouldn't get close again as the Fire would stretch their lead to as much as 18 points in the second half. Junior Taylah Simmons powered Southeastern in the final 20 minutes, adding 13 points in the half and ended up with 19 total points, five rebounds, three assists, and four steals.
Sophomore Ragean Linster chipped in with ten points, three rebounds, and a steal. Marlena Schmidt filled the stat sheet with nine points, four rebounds, four blocks, two assists, and two steals.
The Fire are back in action on Thursday January 23rd at 5:30 pm in The Furnace.
