LAKELAND, Fla.- In their home opener tonight, the Southeastern women's basketball team (2-3, 1-0 SUN) picked up their first Sun Conference victory with an 83-71 victory over the Coastal Georgia Mariners.
The Mariners opened the game with the first points and would not see the lead for the rest of the contest as the Fire would outscore their opponent in every period.
In the first half, the Fire recorded 23 points in both periods with
Raegan Linster recording nine points in the first and
Anja Knoflach tallying eight in the second. A 10-18 effort from the field for the Fire in the first period gave way to a 23-18 lead after 10 minutes. The Fire offense was slightly silenced in the second quarter as they shot 39% from mid-range but converted all six of their free-throw attempts to edge the Mariners 23-22 and take a 46-40 lead into halftime.
Southeastern's defense won them the second half as they would force 12 turnovers with Linster recording four steals in the last two periods.
Gabby Suarez led the Fire with seven third-period points.
Linster's season-high night of 28-points secured her the milestone of 1,000 career points and moving her career total to 1,008. The graduate student also completed the contest with 10 rebounds to tally her third double-double of the season.
Suarez finished the night with 20 points while
Anja Knoflach posted 11 points and eight rebounds.
Josselin Geer led the Fire in assists with seven.
The Fire will be back in The Furnace on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Thomas University.
