LAKELAND, Fla.—Southeastern will play its fourth and fifth games of the season against teams ranked in the Top 15 of the latest NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
The Fire will take part in the Westmont Holiday Classic on Thursday and Friday, taking on the unbeaten and second-ranked hosts first followed by No. 14 Vanguard.
Southeastern is looking to end a two-game slide with losses to NCAA Division II Rollins and No. 11 Carroll last Tuesday. The offense has struggled the last five games, averaging 17.8 turnovers per contest and just 65.8 points per game. Playing shorthanded, the Fire have been held under 60 points in three of their last four games. Only five players have played all five games in December.
Veteran
Gabby Suarez averages 18.2 points per game with four games with 20 or more this season.
Emilia Sexton is second on the team in minutes this month at 177 and is averaging 10.8 points per game and 4.4 assists per game in December. Sexton and
Anja Knoflach have been successful on nine 3-pointers each in December.
Westmont was a 12-point victor over Vanguard on December 10
th, getting 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and five steals from returning All-American Stefanie Berberabe. Berberabe is responsible for three of the program's five triple-doubles, recording 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in the Warriors' 60-40 win over Westcliff in their last game.
The Warriors are 11-0 on the season and are stellar defensively, holding teams to an average of just 48.5 points per game which is third in the NAIA and hold teams to 35.9% from the field.
Vanguard has also made a living on defense this year, allowing just 50.6 points per game which ranks fifth nationally. The 8-3 Lions have only played one home game and it took place off campus due to construction of a new arena. Two of the three losses came to ranked teams in Westmont (second) and Montana-Western (18
th).
Freshman Halle Si'i leads the team at 16.9 points per game with career-highs of 25 against No. 25 Rocky Mountain and again in the contest at Westmont. She has also been good on 27 of her last 31 free throws including a 9-for-10 day at the line in her last game against Montana Tech.
Both games will be streamed live on the
Westmont Sports Network. Southeastern will play at 3 p.m. on Thursday and on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
