A trying season for the Florida Tech women’s basketball team came to a close on Saturday with a 71-66 loss to Palm Beach Atlantic in St. Petersburg. Florida Tech ended the season with 20 losses in what head coach John Reynolds called the most frustrating year of his career, earlier this season.
The frustration had to be boiling over in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, as the Panthers (8-20, 4-16 SSC) watched the Sailfish outscore them 23-11 and turn a seven-point lead at the beginning of the quarter, into a five-point loss.
Tereza Sedlakova ended her Florida Tech career with a team-high 19 points. Amanda Allen finished with 13, and Cheyenne Scott had 12 points and five steals. She tied Sedlakova with six rebounds.
Trine Drejer got a rare start for the Panthers and she made it pay off early with a game-tying three with 8:22 on the clock. Florida Tech would lead 10-6, and an Allen three gave the Panthers a 15-13 lead with 7:04 gone by in the quarter. The Panthers would lead 19-15 after the first 10 minutes.
After PBA tied it at 21 with 7:22 left in the half, the Panthers went on a 9-0 run and led 30-21 with 5:41 to go. A three by Allen upped the Panthers lead to 33-25, followed by a Sedlakova bucket with 1:48 remaining. FIT would take a 35-27 lead into the half.
It took 17 seconds to get the lead to double digits when November Morton drained a three. The Panthers would extend the lead to 14 twice, before the Sailfish would get it down to six, 51-45 after a three by Darsan Deshazier with 1:21 to go in the quarter. Deshazier finished 4-for-7 behind the arc, doing most of her damage in the first quarter. She ended the night with 18 points.
A layup by Fanny Hakanson and free-throws by Scott helped the Panthers take a 55-48 lead into the final 10 minutes of their season.
An early layup by Sedlakova made it 57-52, but a 7-0 run gave PBA a 59-57 lead with 5:37 left. After senior Michaela Gelbaugh laid it in to tie it at 59, the quarter went back-and-forth, tied at 65 with 20 seconds left.
The Sailfish called timeout at that point and they took advantage of Florida Tech fouls, hitting four free-throws to go up 69-65 with 10 seconds left. Allen would hit a free-throw for the Panthers final point of the season, and PBA would knock down two more from the charity stripe in the closing seconds.
For more info: Florida Tech @ Palm Beach Atlantic Box Score
Thank you to coach Reynolds for granting us interviews this season, even on nights when things didn’t go well. Thank you also to Daniel Supraner and the Athletic Communications staff for their help throughout the season. We look forward to covering this team again next season.