LAKELAND, Fla.—On a day when shots weren't falling, the defense stepped up in a big way for second-ranked Southeastern.
The Fire forced 27 turnovers and held the Seahawks to five or less made field goals in three quarters in an 85-58 win over Keiser Saturday night.
Southeastern (18-1, 7-0 SUN) shot 10 points below their season average, going 39% from the field and just 5-of-24 from 3-point range. They made up for it by recording 18 steals and scoring 34 points off turnovers and holding a 20-point advantage in the paint.
Keiser (13-7, 4-4 SUN) committed nine turnovers in the first quarter and 17 total in the first half. Despite shooting 50% from the field in the first quarter, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range, the Seahawks trailed 18-13 after 10 minutes.
After missing on all five 3-pointers in the first quarter,
Tahanee Bennell knocked down a triple to start the third quarter and help SEU build a 17-point lead with 1:13 left in the second using a 13-4 run spanning 4:11 which saw the Fire make five of six shots during that time.
Angela Perry scored four of her game-high 15 points in that span, as did
Josselin Geer in her second start of the season.
At halftime, the Fire held a 42-27 lead.
Both teams struggled coming out of the intermission with the Fire going just 4-of-19 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Keiser outscored SEU 12-11 in the period, going 3-of-11 from the field with two of the three makes from 3-point range to get the deficit to 14 (53-39) to start the fourth.
Southeastern turned things around in the final quarter, outscoring the Seahawks 32-19 and connecting on 55.6% of their field goal attempts, and 3-of-6 from 3-point range. From the 8:39 mark to the 3:36 mark, the Fire outscored Keiser 19-5, going 7-of-14 from the field and forcing five Keiser turnovers.
Raegan Linster had four of her 10 points during that run. Linster also added eight rebounds, eight assists, and five steals, leading the team in each of those categories.
Marta Aranda chipped in 10 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
The Fire return to action on Tuesday at Florida Memorial at 6 p.m.
