A six-point fourth quarter doomed the Florida Tech women on Saturday, as they dropped a 50-49 heartbreaker to the Lynn Fighting Knights at the Clemente Center.
“We shot 33 percent from the field,” said Panthers head coach John Reynolds. “If you’re on your home court and you only can shoot 33 percent or less, you shouldn’t have any expectation to win and you shouldn’t be sad, you shouldn’t be hurt, and that was without a doubt the worst defensive effort I’ve seen all year.”
Michaela Gelbaugh had the Panthers hopes in her hands and had a decent look at the basket, but her last-second shot hit the rim and bounced away, taking with it the Panthers hopes of a victory.
Tereza Sedlakova led the Panthers with 12 points, while Kailyn Ebb had nine points and 12 boards. November Morton also finished with nine points, going 3-for-3 behind the arc.
“I thought Kailyn Ebb came out and played hard and I thought Sedlakova played hard,” Reynolds said. “But our guard play was horrendous. Just horrendous.”
Coming off what Reynolds called his teams best game of the season, a 78-60 win over Embry-Riddle on Wednesday, the Panthers just could not find that high gear they needed to pull out the victory, shooting themselves in the foot multiple times.
“They had 25 turnovers and we had 14 points off those 25 turnovers,” said Reynolds. “The rule is you gotta get a point a turnover and we didn’t because after they turned it over, we turned it over right back to them. If we turn the ball over five or six less times, then we’re okay.”
The first quarter was pretty even but it was highlighted by three-pointers. Loie Webb had two for the Fighting Knights and Amanda Allen and Morton had one each for the Panthers. Lynn came out with a 16-12 lead at the end of the first.
Christina Potts made it a 19-12 game when she hit a three eight seconds into the second quarter. Webb would hit from long range again with 5:12 on the clock and Lynn had a 26-18 lead. Gracie Doane would then hit a three and Sedlakova made it 26-23 with her bucket, only to see Webb splash one in again, making it a six-point game with 3:52 left in the half.
The Fighting Knights would take a 30-26 lead into the halftime break.
Two free-throws by Ebb would get the second half started and kick off a 9-0 run by the Panthers that would put them up 35-30. It was bookended by an Ebb jumper. Morton would hit a three to give her team a 38-32 lead with 2:24 left in the quarter. Lynn did get things going toward the end of the quarter and only trailed 43-39 heading into the final 10 minutes. Thats when the wheels fell off.
The Panthers (8-18, 4-14 SSC) would score six points in the fourth quarter. Lynn wasn’t much better, scoring just 11, but FIT kept missing shots they should make and just one more bucket would have been enough. they just couldn’t buy one when they needed it most.
For more info: Lynn @ Florida Tech Box Score
The Panthers will play their final home game of the season on Wednesday, against Rollins. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. It will be Senior Night so make sure you get there early.