Women's Basketball Heads into Home Opener

LAKELAND, Fla.- Southeastern women's basketball will look to turn their season around with contests against two Sun Conference opponents this week. On Thursday, the Fire will host the College of Coastal Georgia for their home opener at 5:30 p.m. and will face Thomas University on Saturday at 2 p.m. in The Furnace.
 
The Fire have had a slow start to the season, posting a 1-3 record and dropping their first SUN conference contest last week to Ave Maria by a score of 88-78 to snap their streak of 108 consecutive regular season conference wins.
 
A .385 field goal percentage and .327 three-point percentage have resulted in an average of 77.8 points per contest for the Fire through their first four contests. Raegan Linster and Gabby Suarez have been the key contributors with Suarez leading the team in points with 78 after dropping 35 in the season opener. Linster lies just under a double-double average with 18 points and 9.3 rebounds per game behind a 13-31 effort from beyond the arc. Graduate transfer Emilia Sexton leads the Fire in assists with 17.
 
The Mariners opened their season on a four-game losing streak that was recently snapped with a 77-60 victory over Voorhees University. The Brunswick, Ga. squad averages 58.5 points per game behind a field goal percentage of 38.4%. Their leading scorer, Sonia Forney, has accumulated 74 points while shooting 52% from midrange for an average of 18.5 points per game. Forney also sits at exactly 10 rebounds per game to secure the double-double average.
 
The Night Hawks are currently searching for their first win of the season after posting an 0-5 record due to their offensive struggles. Thomas holds a current field goal percentage of .278 as their opponents have posted a 13.6 scoring margin over the Thomasville, Ga. team. A 6-15 effort from three-point range by Mahogany Menefee has resulted in a team-high 69 points while Dejah Wilson's 38 rebounds leads the defense.
 
To purchase tickets to this week's home contests, go to https://southeastern.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx.