Sports Lowdown

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 ...

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...

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...

Ready for tip-off  The Florida Tech women won their third straight game Saturday afternoon, beating Webber International, 84-66 at the Clemente Center. Shequana Harris led all scorers with 17, Delise Williams and Kareese Johnson both had 10. Julie McCarthy just missed a double-double, with eight points and 12 boards. “Kareese was key for us off the bench,” said Panthers coach John Reynolds. She rebounded the ball, she handled the ball, she attacked the basket and played really solid for us.” “I’m really proud of my bench players, Reynolds continued, they played hard all day.” The Panthers led from the get-go, with Williams hitting a three-pointer 25 seconds into the game.  After Webber got to within 5-4, went on a nine-point run, highlighted by a Gracie Doane three. The Panthers carried that to a 22-15 lead after 10 minutes. With 3:43 left in the quarter, the Panthers led 37-28 and they went on an 8-2 run to end the half. FIT took a 45-30 lead to...

Shequana Harris scored 15 points and the Florida Tech Women’s basketball team pulled down 45 rebounds, en route to an 84-40 win over the Warner Royals on Friday. It was a team effort for the Panthers who had at least one rebound from each of the 14 players that saw action. “Everybody played and played some extended minutes and everybody had at least one rebound,” said Panthers coach John Reynolds after the game. “It was a good game to get everybody some playing time and reward them for their efforts in practice.” It was evident early on that Reynolds was going to be able to empty his bench in this one. Up 4-3, the Panthers went on an 8-0 run and were up 12-3 with 5:48 left. A three-ball from Kaley Schmick, pulled the Royals to within four, 12-8, but the Panthers went on a 7-0 run to push the lead to 19-8 and ended the first quarter, leading 23-13. The second quarter was sloppy on both sides for the first five and a half minutes. Both teams combined to score six po...

Two games, two victories for the Florida Tech women’s basketball team. Coming off an opening night win over LeMoyne-Owen on Friday, the Panthers took care of business again on Saturday, beating St. Michael’s College, 66-59 on day two of the Rollins College Classic. Julie McCarthy led the Panthers with a double-double Saturday, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The first quarter went back-and-forth with the score tied three times. Shequana Harris hit a lay-up with 29 seconds left, putting the Panthers up 16-14 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was more of the same, with the Panthers leading throughout, with a five-point advantage in the quarter on two occasions, before St. Michaels closed the gap to one. Both teams scored 19 points in the quarter and the Panthers maintained a two-point advantage at the half, 35-33. The Panthers (2-0) put their best quarter together in the third, outscoring the Purple Knights, 20-14. SMC tied the score at 35 withi...

The Florida Tech Women’s basketball team got their season off on the right foot Friday afternoon, with a 73-50 win over LeMoyne-Owen at the Rollins College Classic in Winter Park. Florida Tech (1-0) got 41 points off their bench in this contest and overcame a 19-12 deficit after the first quarter, rebounding in the second quarter 18-12 and turned up the defense in the second half, holding the Magicians to 19 points. By halftime, the Panthers had cut the LeMoyne-Owen lead to one, at 31-30. Aniquah Swan led the Panthers with eight points, Gracie Doane hit two triples for her six points and Julie McCarthy had six rebounds and four blocks. The second half was all Panthers, led by Shequana Harris , who had just four points in the first half and finished the game with 17. She was an impressive 5-for-5 from the field in the second half and 7-of-11 overall. Doane started that second half, draining a three, to put her squad up 33-31 and they never looked back, reeling of...