Panthers Look For Season-Opening Victory Today

By  //  November 18, 2014

season opener set for 5:30 p.m. at home

Rosie Hynes, above, is one of five seniors on Florida Tech's 2014-15 squad. With three preseason contests under their belt, the Florida Tech Panthers look to officially put a ‘W’ in the win column as they head south to square off with the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish in the regular season opener Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. (Florida Tech image)
Rosie Hynes, above, is one of five seniors on Florida Tech’s 2014-15 squad. With three preseason contests under their belt, the Florida Tech Panthers look to officially put a ‘W’ in the win column as they head south to square off with the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish in the regular season opener Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. (Florida Tech image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – With three preseason contests under their belt, the Florida Tech Panthers look to officially put a ‘W’ in the win column as they head south to square off with the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish in the regular season opener Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m.

In each of the exhibition contests, Florida Tech showed in spurts it has the potential to be a very dangerous team in 2014-15. Against Warner a 13-0 run propelled the Panthers to victory.

The following week it was a 14-0 stretch that allowed Florida Tech to pull away. Facing Saint Thomas, a 19-2 frenzy put the game out of reach. As the regular season tips Tuesday, Florida Tech hopes to find more consistent play and put it all together with much tougher competition looming.

Entering his 28th season on the Florida Tech bench, head coach John Reynolds is just seven wins shy of 500 in his career, and currently ranks 13th among NCAA Division II active coaches.

John Reynolds
John Reynolds

After eye-opening preseason performances, the FIT trio of Jasmire Brown, Shequana Harris and Kayk Wilson appear capable of shouldering the offensive load for a Panther squad that has averaged just over 80 points per game early on.

In his third season, head coach Carlos Palacio and the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish look to improve upon their 7-19 record from a year ago. Returning to his alma mater in 2012, Palacio made strides from year one to year two as the head of the program.

Off to a 1-1 start after two contests in the Colorado Christian Tournament, the Sailfish return to Rubin Arena for a six-game homestand.

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Three PBA players account for 57 percent of the scoring, led by redshirt junior Nina Krstic’s 13.5 points on .583 percent shooting from long range. Forwards Nkiru Anyagaligbo and Ayanna Holmes chip in a respectable 12.0 and 11.0 apiece.

Dating back to the 2009-10 season, FIT has defeated Palm Beach Atlantic in 10 consecutive meetings by an average margin of 16.1 points. In their most recent matchup, the Panthers used an early first half surge to cruise to a 74-57 victory over the Sailfish.