Florida Tech Women Defeated By No. 20 Nova, 73-52

By  //  January 25, 2015

Florida Tech held to 26-percent shooting

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No. 9 Florida Tech (15-2, 5-2 SSC) was held to 26-percent shooting in its 73-52 loss against Nova Southeastern (13-4, 5-2 SSC) on Saturday at the Don Taft University Center. ( FIT image )

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – No. 9 Florida Tech (15-2, 5-2 SSC) was held to 26-percent shooting in its 73-52 loss against Nova Southeastern (13-4, 5-2 SSC) on Saturday at the Don Taft University Center.

The Panthers made 13 field goals in the first half and just six in the second half. Their three-point shooting was also off as they finished 4-of-22 for 18 percent.

Morgan Steinert led FIT with a season-high 12 points. Kayk Wilson was the only other Panther to score in double figures finishing with 10. BreAnn Davis had a team-high five rebounds.

John Reynolds
John Reynolds

“You can’t shoot under 26-percent on the road in conference and expect to win,” head coach John Reynolds said.

“That’s asking a lot from your kids defensively. I think with 12-13 minutes to go in the game it was a five-point game. Nova hit another gear and made some shots and we didn’t.

We couldn’t buy a basket. We had wide open looks and couldn’t put it in the basket.”

“I thought we were really confident coming in. We’ve won the last two years in this gym. That wasn’t a concern for us. I thought the Nova kids stuck to their defensive game plan. They limited Kayk’s looks.

“When you look at Jas and Kayk and combined they go 6-for-26 you know we’re not having a good night. Give Nova credit. Sometimes a defensive team isn’t going to give you that rhythm and I thought they did a good job.”

Nova Southeastern shot over 50-percent in both halves and dominated the paint 42-14 in scoring along with a 47-40 edge in rebounds.

FIT, however, was plus-seven in turnovers, forcing 18 and committing 11.

The Panthers trailed by as many as 12 points with just over 14 minutes to play. They went on a 7-0 run highlighted by a steal and layup by Wilson to make it a five-point game. That’s when the Sharks kicked it into a much higher gear, reeling off a 17-2 run to pull ahead 62-45 with 4:50 on the clock.

Four Nova Southeastern players scored in double figures with Danielle Robinson pacing the squad at 16 points. Jasmine Wilkins had 15, Jessica Valley had 14 with 10 rebounds and Kayla Wright scored 13.

FIT will return home to host Lynn on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Clemente Center. Live video, audio and stats will be available at FloridaTechSports.com/live.

“After two straight losses, I told the girls the same thing I told them after 15 straight wins,” Reynolds said.

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“You have tonight to think about it. The same way you enjoy a win, you get to feel bad for today. You have to study and rest on Sunday and come back ready on Monday to get started over again. We never really cared about the streak.”

“I don’t think that the winning streak ever got us too high. Losing two games isn’t going to get us too low. We’re going to come out on Monday and get ready for Lynn.”