Women's basketball returns to action this week after avenging an early season loss, defeating the Ave Maria Gyrenes this past Saturday 84-59 moving to 16-5 on the season and climbing to 7-1 in Sun Conference play and maintaining the top spot in the conference.
Saturday's victory was fueled by a barrage of three's as the Fire drained 17 in the game and shot 47 percent from behind the arc. The Fire have connected on 52 3-pointers over their last four games with a 40 percent success rate.
Kacilyn Krebs went 5-9,
Courtni Demorest went 4-5, and graduate
Bekki Kalaydjiev went 5-7 from three point land.
Moving into the upcoming matchups, the Fire look to continue its dominant defensive performance. They held the Gyrenes to 59 points, and allowed only 18 percent three point shooting forcing 18 turnovers and collecting eight steals.
Southeastern has faced each of the teams they play this week once already earlier this season, both matches were played in The Furnace. On Wednesday, the Fire travel to West Palm Beach to battle it out with the Keiser University Seahawks (13-9, 5-3 SUN) who they defeated earlier this season by a score of 76-63, and on Saturday, they visit the Webber International University Warriors (5-14, 3-5 SUN).
In their early season contest against Keiser, the Fire created the difference behind a dominant first half leading 47-30 at halftime as they connected on threes on four consecutive possessions in the second quarter. Kalaydjiev led in scoring that match up with 20 points, and
Mya Herman and
Kacilyn Krebs followed close behind with 17 and 16 points. The Fire defense also showed their strength as they held the Seahawks to 3-17 from three.
Keiser University comes into this match after a dominant win in Babson Park over the host Webber International, outscoring the Warriors 73-49. Using 47 percent three point shooting and excellent defense to claim a critical victory in the Sun Conference as they are one game back of the St. Thomas Bobcats (16-5, 6-2 SUN) and two games back of the Fire. The Seahawks are led primarily by Halle Traylor who scores nearly 16 points per game, but also have three other scorers who average ten plus per game. Defensively, Elise Ellison cleans up rebounding with 190 total rebounds and Kyra Long leads the team in blocks with 21.
On Saturday, the Fire will look to complete a season sweep of the Webber International Warriors as they travel down to play on the road. Webber came to The Furnace for the first match, and the Fire defended their home claiming a 77-63. The second quarter was the only difference in the game, as the Fire shot 57 percent in that quarter going up by 14 into half. That, and the continued matching of the Warriors comeback efforts proved to be enough for the Fire. Kalaydjiev again was the leading scorer, putting up 15, and
Kassidy Jones added 14 of her own behind four three pointers.
Webber looks to end a three game conference slide, dropping contests to Ave Maria, St. Thomas, and Keiser. The Warriors hosted the Keiser Seahawks this past Saturday, and without their leading scorer Jaida Burgess they fell to the Seahawks 73-49. Webber has been led all year offensively by Burgess who averages 19.7 points and Samantha Pacheco who scores 14 per game. On the defensive side of the court the Junior guard Jermasia Klopsis picks pockets, leading the team in steals with 36, and Triniti Lee protects the rim with 31 total blocks.
The Fire will continue to lean on Kalaydjiev and a nicely balanced offensive attack and a stifling defense. Kalaydjiev has led Southeastern in scoring six out of the past seven games,
Kiki Britzmann and
Ariana Smuda work the paint, and Krebs and
Anaya Coleman look to continue their sharp shooting from behind the arc.
On Wednesday the Fire tip off against Keiser at 5:30 p.m. and on the road they tip off against Webber International 2 p.m.
