LAKELAND, Fla.—Turnovers and defensive struggles were costly in the first game of 2023 for Southeastern women's basketball.
The Fire fell to 6-10 and 3-3 in Sun Conference play with an 80-69 loss to Florida Memorial on Thursday night after committing 18 turnovers.
Florida Memorial (10-5, 5-1 SUN) shot 43.5% from the field and had two players with 20+ points.
Gabby Suarez was good on her first two shots of the game to put SEU up 5-1 less than 90 seconds into the game. The Lions responded with the next 13 points of the game to lead 14-5 with 4:48 left in the quarter. Southeastern was able to respond with a 6-0 run to make it a one-possession game at 14-11 on a 3-pointer by
Josselin Geer with 3:43 left in the first.
The teams traded 3-point baskets with Suarez answering an Aliyah-Deen Ahmad triple at the 3:21 mark with one of her own at the 3:01 mark to keep the deficit to three. The Lions ended the quarter on a 10-0 run with the Fire going 0-for-7 over the final 2:32 of the quarter to trail 27-14 after one.
It turned out to be nearly a six-minute drought for the Fire which saw the Lions lead 31-14 with 8:55 left in the second. The deficit reached 21 on five-straight points by Ahmad at the 3:01 mark to go up 31-20. The Fire responded with an 8-0 run, getting four points from Geer and four from
Kiki Britzmannto get it within 13 with 1:09 left and trailed 44-30 at halftime.
Southeastern used a 13-2 run in the third quarter, highlighted by an
Anja Knoflach 3-pointer with 3:31 to play to get within a basket at 50-47. Suarez hit a layup with 1:51 to go to answer a jumper by Jasmine Worthy to get back within three, but seven straight by the Lions got it back to double figures with 26 seconds left in the third.
Down 64-58 with 8:18 remaining in the game, the Fire conceded a basket out of a timeout and then committed a turnover to find themselves down 10 with 7:32 left. Southeastern never got within two possessions the rest of the night. The Fire lost Suarez to fouls with 5:56 remaining after scoring a team-high 18 points in 31 minutes.
Knoflach and Britzmann added 16 each with Britzmann adding 10 a team-high rebounds. Geer finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Emilia Sexton had a team-high seven assists.
The Fire will be on the road Saturday to take on St. Thomas at 2 p.m.
