LAKELAND, Fla.- The No. 1 Southeastern University Fire women's basketball team seems to have hit their stride just in time for postseason play, as the top-seeded Fire upended the fifth-seeded Ave Maria University Gyrenes 111-51 in The 2022 Sun Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Semifinal to advance to the championship game.
The Fire scored an astounding 42 points off of 33 AMU turnovers forced on the night. Prolific ball movement and shooting on the offensive side of things was also a distinctive for SEU, as Southeastern made a single-game season high 20 of their 33 three-point attempts.
Leading the way for the Fire was graduate shooting guard
Marta Aranda, who led all scorers with an SEU career-high 22 points after sinking a season high six of her eight attempts from behind the arc. The Second Team All-SUN selection also dished out six assists and swiped three steals.
SEU senior shooting guard
Raegan Linster also had a season-high in points, scoring 20 with a team high eight field goals made and going 4-6 from the perimeter.
After holding a 19-7 lead after the first quarter, the Fire opened the second period of play on a dominant 14-0 run to open things up to a 31-9 SEU advantage.
The Fire shot their best quarter percentage in the second period of play at 68.4% (13-19) and held the Gyrenes to just five points in the second quarter, as Southeastern took a 51-14 lead over Ave Maria into the locker room at halftime.
SEU led by as many as 62 in the second half, as the Gyrenes were only able to reduce to the deficit to as little as 36.
The Sun Conference Player of the Year
Angela Perry finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Senior point guard
Gabby Suarez also had 17 points and led the Fire with seven assists.
The Fire will take on the winner of Webber International and Florida Memorial in The Sun Conference Tournament Final tomorrow night inside The Furnace at 7:00 p.m.
