Panthers Win Wild Game at PBA

Shequana Harris - James Ragan Photography
The Florida Tech women’s basketball team escaped Saturday with a 61-58 road win against Sunshine State Conference foe, Palm Beach Atlantic. It was the Panthers first road win of the season.

It was a bit if a different look for the Panthers to start the game, with Amanda Allen and Ashle Thompson getting the start, ahead of names like Julie McCarthy and Shequana Harris. Those players did come in a little more than halfway through the first quarter.

“We had a couple things that went on this week that we weren’t happy with,” said Florida Tech coach John Reynolds, in his post-game interview with Jim Mitchell. “We started kids that hadn’t started and they had the lead 12-6. We subbed, but they continued to play in the first half for us. I thought this was the best team win we’ve had.”

Despite not starting, Harris led the Panthers with 15 points and McCarthy finished with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. She also contributed with two blocks.

It wasn’t a pretty game at the start, as the two teams combined for seven fouls in the first 3:10. The teams were pretty evenly matched throughout the first quarter, with the Panthers biggest lead being 12-6. PBA cut into it late and the Panthers had a 16-15 lead at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter started with both teams going back-and-forth, but the Panthers got a three-pointer from Kareese Johnson, a layup by McCarthy and a big three off a turnover, by Harris. That boosted the Panthers 19-17 lead to a 27-17 lead, with 5:57 to go in the first half. There was some good defense in that stretch as well, with Allen and McCarthy both getting credit for a block.

A three by Mina Salhia with 4:49 to go in the half, stopped a 4:11 scoring drought for the Sailfish. 

The Panthers went cold soon after, with PBA going on a 5-0 run and the Panthers drought lasting almost four minutes. The Panthers ended the half on a 5-0 run of their own and led 32-24 at the break.

Harris led the Panthers with nine points at the half, and the Panthers were 9-of-28 from the field (32.1 percent). The Sailfish shot 6-of-25 (24.0 percent). Each team had 20 rebounds and FIT only turned the ball over seven times, while the Sailfish coughed it up 12.

The third quarter started well for the home team, as they cut the Panthers 10-point lead down to five, with five minutes to go. They continued to chip away and before you knew it, FIT was clinging to a 42-41 lead, with 3:51 to go in the quarter.

Allen hit a jumper with 58 seconds left to boost the lead to 48-42 and Tereza Sedlakova banged home a three, to make it 51-42 with 32 seconds left. That would be the score heading into the final 10 minutes of the contest.

Hannah Grim, who was a thorn in the side of Florida Tech for much of the night, started the fourth with a bucket and after Harris hit a shot, Grim came back with a three-pointer, to close the gap to 53-48. With 3:01 to go, the Sailfish cut it to 55-54, on a jumper by Ayanna Holmes. The teams would trade a few hoops from there.

Trailing 59-58 with 48 seconds left, Palm Beach had the ball, after a DeLise Williams turnover. She came back with a huge steal for the Panthers, with 33 seconds to go. They couldn’t convert on that play and gave PBA one more chance. They drove inside, but lost the ball out of bounds with 5.3 seconds left.

With that the Sailfish were forced to foul and Williams hit both free-throws, giving Florida Tech the 61-58 lead.

PBA (6-10, 2-7 SSC) got one more chance and Grim got a good look at the tying three, but it just rimmed out and the Panthers hung on for the victory.

“What the heck was I thinking?” said Reynolds. “We should’ve fouled Grim in the backcourt. Even if she goes to the line and made two, the percentages of her making missing one and rebounding it, ya know what I mean… and we didn’t do that.”

“That’s all on the coach, he continued, “That was hopefully my last big mistake for the season. I made that mistake and we got out of it.”

For more info: Florida Tech @ PBA Box Score

Florida Tech (8-7, 3-5 SSC) returns home on Wednesday for another Sunshine State Conference tilt, against the St. Leo Lions. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.



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