LAKELAND, Fla. – Southeastern University used a stifling defense from start to finish in a dominant 68-30 win over New College of Florida in Sun Conference women's basketball Saturday afternoon at The Furnace.
SEU outscored New College by a combined 37-5 margin combined in the second and fourth quarters. The Fire defense forced the Banyans into 43 turnovers, including 28 steals.
The Fire turned a 12-10 edge with 3:10 left in the first frame and doubled it to 24-10 over the ensuing 7:29 of play into the mid part of the second quarter. Following a New College layup, SEU put up the final eight points of the first half and the opening four of the final 20 minutes for a commanding 36-12 advantage. The Mighty Banyans were able to pull no closer than 16 points on the opening 3-pointer of the final quarter, before the Fire went on a 22-point run to close out the game.
The win was the seventh in a row for the Fire, who improved to 15-3 (5-1 SUN) on the season. New College fell to 7-9 and 0-5 in the league.
The SEU defense held New College to a combined 2-of-20 from the floor in the second and fourth quarters. The Banyans were just 1-of-6 in the second and 1-for-14 in the last 10 minutes.
Mya Herman led the defensive and offensive home effort with eight steals to go with her 19-point output on 8-of-16 from the field, including a trio of triples.
Grace Field made 7 of her 8 attempts for 14 points and hauled in a team-high eight rebounds while adding four steals. Jodi Mullins made 7-of-8 free throws as part of her nine points to go with three assists, two steals and two boards. Courtni Demorest dropped a pair of treys for six points and added six rebounds and two steals.
Kassidy Jones had seven bench points off the bench, adding two steals. Rosa Sorribes had five steals to go with five points. Anaya Coleman added four assists, four rebounds, three points and a trio of steals. Alley Haas hit a trey and pulled in five rebounds.
Halle Shelt led the Banyans with 12 points.
The Fire return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Lake Wales to face Warner University. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m..
