MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - The No. 1 ranked Southeastern women's basketball was victorious at St. Thomas this Thursday evening. The Fire defeated the Bobcats 91-44 to advance to 20 wins on the season.
The Fire stepped in front of the Bobcats within the first six minutes of play, as they held a nine-point advantage over STU. By the end of the first quarter, SEU led by eight points. STU's Samaria August sunk all of her three free-throws near the end of the frame to cut the deficit to a single digit.
Heading into the second quarter, the Fire were up 19-11 against the Bobcats. Senior center Marlena Schmidt led the Fire with six total points and four rebounds.
St. Thomas opened the second looking to cut the deficit even more, however a three-pointer by Reagan Linster and three-point play by Schmidt advanced the Fire's lead to ten.
With 7:41 remaining in the first half of the game, SEU went on an eight-point run to advance their lead to 33-17 over STU. The Fire kept the Bobcats quiet for 2:29 minutes in the second, as the team went on another streak with seven points.
After 20 minutes of play, Southeastern held a 47-21 lead over St. Thomas. The Fire were shooting 62.5% in the field, with 20 field goals made out of 32 total. Also, SEU was shooting 44.4% from beyond the arc.
Schmidt led the Fire with 15 points and five rebounds. Following Schmidt was Taylah Simmons with 14 points. Both Schmidt and Simmons made seven of their eight field goal attempts.
After the halftime break, the Fire maintained their dominance to advance their lead to 33-points. St. Thomas called a timeout midway through the quarter as the Fire led 60-27. Returning from the timeout, the Bobcats went on a six-point run, their longest in the game.
Finishing the third frame, Southeastern was up 66-38 against St. Thomas.
In the finale, St. Thomas was only able to score one-point off of a free-throw for the first seven minutes of play in the quarter.
The Fire only allowed STU to score six-points in the fourth, while they recorded another 25 points to end the game with a 91-44 victory on the road.
Junior Simmons finished the day with 29 points and seven rebounds. Schmidt ended the game with a double-double as she tallied 21 total points and 10 rebounds. Two other Fire players recorded double digit points: M'caela Sellers (15) and Eliza West (10).
The Fire will be back in action on February 1st as they return home to play Florida Memorial. The game is set to start at 5:30 p.m.
