Sports Lowdown

Photo credit: James Ragan Photography It was a tough day at the office for the Florida Tech Panthers on Saturday, as they dropped a 101-49 decision to Division I power Florida Gulf Coast, in Fort Myers. This was essentially an exhibition for the Panthers, who were coming off a tough overtime loss at Lynn on Friday night and didn’t even arrive at their hotel until 1:30 Saturday morning. Panthers coach Billy Mims didn’t use the late arrival as an excuse and his team certainly didn’t play tired to start the game. They came out on a 1-0 run, with Patrick Anderson and Sam Daniel knocking down a couple early three-pointers. “We opened up man-to-man, toe-to-toe with them we played good D and I thought we executed well,” Mims said. The Panthers went up 12-4 with 4:35 gone in the half and the Eagles fought back, to take a 16-15 lead. They stretched it to 20-15 with 11:25 to go and Daniel cut it back to two, with another three-point bucket. Robert Booth got the Panthers ...

Jordan Majors - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Men’s Basketball team overcame a 17 point second half deficit at Lynn Friday night, but the Fighting Knights proved to be too much in overtime, taking down the Panthers 102-94 in a Sunshine State Conference battle. It was an odd night for Florida Tech, who sat their three best players for the first 7:21 of the contest for what coach Billy Mims said in his post-game interview, was a violation of team rules. “We had some guys that weren’t where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be there,” he said. “We had team rules that were violated, nothing serious. It was more punctuality and professionalism that anything else.” The starters that were in held their own, as they were only down 11-6 when the normal starting lineup made their first appearance. Unfortunately, no matter who was in there, the Panthers were unable to get any offensive consistency for most the game. Free throws by ...

Gracie Doane - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech women’s basketball team were doomed by a poor third quarter Friday night that saw the Lynn Fighting Knights outscore the Panthers 22-11, en route to a 71-61 Sunshine State Conference victory. The loss was the fourth in a row for Florida Tech. The Panthers troubles started early when leading scorer Shequana Harris was called for a foul two seconds into the contest. She picked up a second foul early and her third, just as the third quarter got underway. When all was said, and done, Harris played three minutes and scored two points. Florida Tech (6-6, 2-4 SSC) held their own early without her, leading 13-12 with 1:23 left in the first quarter, thanks to a layup by Gudlau Juliusdottir before Lynn overtook them, scoring five straight points and leading 17-13 at the end of the first quarter. Lynn (7-4, 2-3 SSC) extended their lead to 23-15 early in the second quarter and were up 27-19 before Gracie D...

Tereza Sedlakova - Photo credit: James Ragan A career-high 14 points from Aniquah Swan was not enough to stop the Panthers from losing their third straight game Monday, a 64-53 defeat to the Shaw Bears, at the Palm Beach Atlantic Holiday Hoops classic. Florida Tech (6-5) got off to a good start, jumping out to a 10-4 lead. Swan had four of those points and Gudlau Julisdottir had a steal and layup on the other end, to put an exclamation point on the early run. The Bears (3-10) responded with a 7-0 run, giving them an 11-10 lead with 2:39 left. Tereza Sedlakova hit two free-throws and Gracie Doane hit a three ball, to put the Panthers up, 15-14 with 1:35 left. The Bears regained the lead 16-15, before Sedlakova hit a jumper late to give the Panthers a 17-16 lead after the first quarter. The difference in the game was the second quarter, as the Bears outscored Florida Tech 18-10. Two early three-pointers got the Bears the lead 22-19 and a 6-0 run opened things up ...

Sam Daniel scored 32 points in the Panthers win on Monday Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Sam Daniel and Robert Booth led the charge Monday night, as the Florida Tech Panthers scored 65 second half points, en route to a 99-77 victory over the Point Skyhawks in the final game of the Florida Tech Winter Classic. Daniel finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds, while Booth scored a career-high 20 and pulled down 11. It was his third double-double of the season. The final score is not indicative of how close this game was in the first half, as the Panthers struggled to get anything going. Joshua Tolbert gave the visitors a spark when he went on an individual 8-0 run with 15:39 left in the half, turning an 11-9 Panthers lead into a 17-11 deficit. Daniel hit a three with 14:18 left in the half, to stop the Tolbert show. The Skyhawks went on a bit of a run again, going up 23-16 at one point and still led by seven with just over 10 minutes to go in the half. consecut...

Julie McCarthy - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Women’s team put up a fight against the nationally ranked and undefeated Bellarmine on Sunday, before falling 68-61 in the Palm Beach Atlantic Holiday Hoops Classic. The Panthers were their own worst enemy, hitting only one of 14 three-pointers and turning the ball over 23 times. Foul-shooting kept the Panthers in this game, as they hit 26-of-29 from the line, in a game that featured a combined 56 fouls and 61 foul shots. Bellarmine finished 23-for-32 from the stripe. Julie McCarthy led the Panthers with a career-high 25 points and hit 15 of her 17 free throws. She also had 10 rebounds. Shequana Harris chipped in 18. Sarah Galvin led the Knights with a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down 11 boards. She scored her 1,000 th point as a member of the Knights in this contest. Things started well for the Panthers, who scored the first seven points of the game, but Bellarmine roa...

Sam Daniel hits a three during Sunday night's 89-77 victory The Florida Tech Men’s Basketball team had four players in double figures on Sunday, leading to an 89-77 win over UPR Rio Piedras in the first game of the Florida Tech Winter Classic. Jordan Majors scored 25 points, Sam Daniel had 24, Patrick Anderson had 15 and Robert Booth had 13. Junior Michael Milligan  got the start for the Panthers and he was all over the court defensively. He chipped in four points and four rebounds, to go along with three assists, a block and a steal. "His numbers look very average, but his game was a lot more than average," said Florida Tech head coach Billy Mims, of Milligan. "We started him with one goal in mind, to guard Omar Font. Against Rollins he had 36 points, so we knew this guy was capable of going off on us. Font ended up with 22 points, he made six shots, but only made four threes'. Mike defended him well and held him to 16 points, he was 6-for-6 fr...

Gracie Doane - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Women’s Basketball team fell to Tampa 66-53 Saturday, in a Sunshine State Conference tilt. Spartans’ senior Elena de Alfredo, hit seven of her 13 shots, including two three-pointers, leading the home team with 19 points. The first half was nip-and-tuck, with each team scoring 11 points in the first quarter. Back-to-back threes by de Alfredo late in the first quarter gave the Spartans an 11-8 lead, but Gracie Doane answered late for the Panthers, tying things up. Doane finished with 11 points, including three of eight from beyond the arc. She was the only Florida Tech player in double figures on this day. DeLise Williams started the second quarter with a three for the Panthers, giving them a 14-13 lead, but de Alfredo answered with another bucket and she had 12 of Tampa’s 15 points early. The Panthers hit a bit of a lull, going scoreless for 3:38, but they hung tough and trailed 22-21. Julie McC...

Photo Credit: James Ragan Photography  The Florida Tech Men’s basketball team traveled to Tampa Saturday to take on the Spartans and watched a seven-point halftime deficit turn into a 96-66 loss. The Panthers had a tire blow on the way to the game, resulting in a 20-minute delay to the start of the game. They blew another tire in figurative sense on the court, as their defense had no answer for the Spartans, who hit 17 of their 37 three-pointers, with 10 of those coming off the hot hand of Anthony Gamble, who finished with 32 points to lead the home team. Tampa also won the rebounding battle handily, grabbing 45 off the glass, to the Panthers 25. “That’s the worst performance we’ve had in a decade, period,” said Florida Tech coach Billy Mims in his postgame interview with Paul Van Scott. “We tried every defense on the planet and none of them worked.” The Panthers were down early in this one, hitting two of nine shots at one point, but they battled back with ...

Patrick Anderson - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Men’s Basketball team beat Nova Southeastern Saturday, 98-90 and in the process won their fifth straight game and have now won seven out of eight, after two straight losses to start the season. The first half was a back-and-forth affair with Jordan Majors and Patrick Anderson dropping in 12 points apiece. Majors was 4-of-5 from three-point range and Anderson was 2-of-5, leading the Panthers to an 11-of-18 first half, from beyond the arc. “The difference in the game was clearly in two areas,” said Panthers head coach Billy Mims in his postgame interview with Jim Mitchell. “We made 14 threes’ in the game and we’re shooting the ball as well as anybody in the conference,” he said. “We shot 41 percent behind the arc and when you shoot like that, it’s hard to lose games. The other thing that stood out was how well we passed the basketball, talk about a team effort, we had 26 assists and only 13 tur...

Shequana Harris -  Photo credit:  James Ragan Photography After a difficult loss, Wednesday night against Rollins, the Florida Tech women bounced back to beat the Nova Southeastern Sharks 57-46 on Saturday, led by Shequana Harris , who had a game high 16 points. Markeema Crawford chipped in 11. The Sharks came in ranked 22 nd nationally and had won five in a row. They fell to 6-2 overall and the Panthers handed them their first loss in the Sunshine State Conference. “We outrebounded them by 10 37-27 and that was the game,” said Florida Tech head coach John Reynolds in his postgame interview with Jim Mitchell. “Julie McCarthy had 10 and played a great game today.” Things got off to a bit of a slow start for the Panthers, who were outscored 17-10 in the first quarter, including a 10-2 Nova run to end the quarter. The slow start could have been due in large part to the absence of Tanease Richardson who was injured against Rollins and Michaela Gelbaug...

Sam Daniel and Jordan Majors combined for 54 points Wednesday, helping the Florida Tech Panthers beat Rollins 90-75, in a Sunshine State Conference game at the Clemente Center. Daniel ended the night with game highs in points, 30 and rebounds with 16. Majors went for 24. “Everybody knows Sam can score, but he had maybe a career high in rebounds,” said Panthers head coach Billy Mims. Rollins (5-2, 1-1 SSC) went on an 8-0 run after Majors hit two free-throws to start the game. Patrick Anderson’s three got the Panthers to within three, 8-5 and Anderson hot another three at the 14:36 mark to put the Panthers up a deuce, 10-8. The Tars went on another run, running their lead up to 19-12 before Rafael Casanova and Daniel hit threes, tying the game at 19. Casanova would leave the game with 5:48 left in the half, after going down in the lane. He sprained his ankle and did not return. The Panthers (6-3, 2-1 SSC) kept the momentum going through the rest of the first half...

The Florida Tech Women’s basketball team made a late run at a comeback Wednesday against Rollins, but ultimately the Tars hung on for a 72-67 Sunshine State Conference win. “It comes down to Rollins wanted that game more than we did,” said Panthers head coach John Reynolds. “I’m thinking that and it hurts me to say something like that, but you can’t come out in a conference game and go 3-for-14 on three’s.” Florida Tech (5-2, 1-2 SSC) led 14-11 after one quarter, The Panthers were within a point at 27-26, but a six-point run by Rollins late in the second helped them outscore the Panthers 25-14 in the quarter and go to the locker room with a 36-28 advantage. The visitors were 5-of-13 beyond the arc in that first half, while the Panthers went 0-for-8. Shequana Harris had eight points and three rebounds in the first 20 minutes, to pace the Panthers. “I think she played as hard and as good as she could,” said Reynolds of Harris. Marie Gilbert gave the Tars a 42-33 adv...