LAKELAND, Fla.—A 4-0 record in December brings the Southeastern women's basketball into Sun Conference play as the hottest team in the league.
The Fire open Sun Conference play with Ave Maria on Saturday at 2 p.m., which is riding a three-game winning streak.
Defense has been the key as of late for Southeastern, which holds a 9-4 record. Teams have averaged just 53.3 points per game against the Fire during the four-game win stream and have shot just 34% from the field. Southeastern has made 112 shots during the streak and have surrendered just 72.
Additionally, the Fire are a +35 in the turnover margin over those four games.
Individually, the return of all-conference forward
Kiki Britzmann has been a spark. The second-year player for the Fire has averaged 10.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game over the last four contests and has shot 55% from the field.
Since a 10-point loss at The Furnace to Bethel (Tenn.), the Gyrenes have rattled off wins against Florida National, Lawrence Tech, and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Ave Maria is 9-5 on the year and are led by Casey Humphrey's 11.2 points per game. The Gyrenes have also been solid defensively, ranking third in the league in opponent field goal percentage at 35.5% just ahead of Southeastern. They have been able to overcome some turnover issues this year by creating more at the other end, with an average of margin of -0.57 per game.
The Fire won 15-consecutive games against Ave Maria following a one-point loss to the Gyrenes at The Furnace in the 2015 Sun Conference Quarterfinals. That streak ended in last year's conference opener at Donahue Gymnasium with a 10-point loss to end SEU's 108-game Sun Conference regular season win streak.
