Panthers Hold Off Saint Leo, 71-69

Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

The Florida Tech women’s basketball team got a much-needed conference victory Wednesday night against the Saint Leo Lions, at the Clemente Center.

“We stole a win tonight,” said Panthers coach John Reynolds. “I’m not sure we outplayed them and we certainly didn’t outshoot them. We outworked them at times, but we’ve gotta become better communicators and we’ve gotta understand what the role is of the player on the floor.”

Freshman Amanda Allen led the Panthers with 12 points, while Gudlau Juliusdottir, Tereza Sedlakova and DeLise Williams all had 10 points. Williams also had five assists, three steals and eight rebounds. Juliusdottir had two steals and five helpers.

“That’s probably the most balanced scoring that we’ve had all year,” said Reynolds. “

The first quarter was knotted at 17, with the Lions shooting well beyond the arc. They hit three of their nine three-pointers in the game in that opening stanza, while the Panthers only got one from Kareese Johnson with 2:48 left in the quarter to cut the Saint Leo lead to 13-11. That would be the only three that the Panthers made all night, on 16 attempts.

“We have no business taking a three, none,” Reynolds said. “The guys that take them have no business taking them. Their percentages are too low to be taking threes. I think we’ll correct that tomorrow, or there’s gonna be some unhappy guys sitting on our bench.”

Sedlakova’s two free-throws gave the Panthers a 25-24 lead with 4:19 left in the half and after Juliusdottir hit a shot, Sedlakova hit two more free-throws and Allen hit two consecutive shots, allowing the Panthers to widen their lead to 32-24 and force a Lions timeout, with 1:24 to go before the break.

The Lions (5-11, 0-9 SSC) got a three from Ragan Dotson with 1:11 left, to stem the tide a bit and cut the lead to 32-27, but a Markeema Crawford layup gave the Panthers a 34-27 advantage as they went to the locker room.

The Panthers outscored the Lions 17-10 in that second quarter. “We had a good second quarter, which has been our nemesis quarter,” said Reynolds.

The third quarter was pretty even, with Saint Leo outscoring Florida Tech 22-19. Saint Leo closed the gap to 36-32 with 7:07 left in the third, but the Panthers went on a 6-0 run and led 42-32 with 5:44 left. Dotson answered with a three and kick off a six-point run by the visitors.

After Nikira Hooks hit a three to cut the Panthers lead to 45-41, free-throws by Allen and Julie McCarthy, brought the Panthers lead up to 49-41. Hooks answered with another three at the 2:31 mark and she would finish with a game-high 24.

The third quarter with end with Florida Tech hanging on to a 53-49 lead. Saint Leo would score the first four points of the fourth to tie. The game would see-saw from there, with the Panthers going up 66-64 on an Allen jumper with 2:43 left.

The Panthers did just enough to keep the lead down the stretch, despite a backcourt call against Williams with nine seconds left and the Panthers up 70-69, as she was trying to run out the clock on the inbounds play.

Reynolds said the official told him that she had not gotten her foot down and established herself in the backcourt and he said that his interpretation of that is that you don’t have to be established on an inbounds. That said, he did acknowledge the possibility that the official made the right call and that it was something he would check on.

In the end, Saint Leo missed the layup on the other end, so it didn’t cost the Panthers, as Sedlakova added a free-throw with under one second on the clock, to seal the victory for the Panthers.

“Saint Leo is 0-9 in the league, if that’s not the best 0-9 team I’ve seen in my time in here,” said Reynolds. “They lost two conference game in overtime and this game could’ve went to overtime.”

For more info: Saint Leo @ Florida Tech Box Score

Injury update: Gracie Doane, who was hurt in the win over Embry-Riddle on January 4, is out for the season. Reynolds said he expects her back next season.

The Panthers (9-7, 4-5 SSC) will head to Winter Park for a Sunshine State Conference showdown with Rollins on Saturday. The opening tip is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

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