The top-ranked Southeastern University women's basketball team continued their dominance against Warner University, as they have stretched their winning streak to 20 games. On Thursday night, Southeastern was victorious over the Royals by the score of 98-45.
In the first quarter, the Fire and Royals were tied 9-9 with 3:42 left in the quarter until Southeastern gained momentum with their offense leading the way, and stellar defense that resulted in a 23-0 run that lasted until the 6:06 mark of the second quarter.
The Fire led 21-9 heading into the second quarter, and held as big of a lead as 28 in the first half.
SEU finished the quarter making seven of their 16 field goal attempts at 43.8%. The Fire were also 3-for-9 at the three-point line.
Senior center,
Marlena Schmidt, displayed her impressive defense with two blocks and three defensive rebounds in her first eight minutes of play. She finished with a double-double effort of 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The second quarter did not disappoint as the Fire continued to apply pressure shooting 50% and scoring 26 points compared to the Royals 13 in that quarter. They also went 7-of-8 at the free throw line before halftime.
By the end of the first half, the Fire led 47-22 over Warner. Southeastern finished the half shooting 47.1% and going 11-18 in free-throw attempts. They struggled behind the arc shooting 23.5%. Senior point-guard,
Eliza West, was a force offensively as well ending the half with 10 points and two assists. She finished with 12 points, fouling out after 18 minutes.
Returning from intermission, the Royals could not match the Fire's explosive offense, as they racked up 29 points, shooting 64.7% and going 3-7 from beyond the arc. By the end of third quarter they had a 42 point lead with a score of 76-34 heading into the fourth.
Southeastern finished the game shooting 49.3% with major contributions from their starters, offensively and defensively.
Five players attained double-digit points in: Raegan Linster (15),
Taylah Simmons (14), Schmidt (13), West (12), and
Haley Howarth (17). Each SEU player contributed at least one assist with
Taylah Simmons leading the team with five on the night.
The Fire return to play on Saturday at Webber International at 2 p.m.
