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Panthers Pounce on Puerto Rico-Bayamon

Amanda Allen Donny Rieber Jr | Sports Lowdown

The Florida Tech Classic tipped off Friday afternoon with the Panthers picking up an 80-56 win over Puerto Rico-Bayamon.

“Give Bayamon credit, they never go away. They play like that score is tied the whole game,” said Panthers coach John Reynolds. “A lot of credit to them, I appreciated that type of competition today.”

Florida Tech (2-1) was without November Morton today, but they did well despite her being on the bench.

Amanda Allen led all scorers with 23 points, going 8-for-12 from the field and hitting five of six three-pointers. Severine Uggen was 5-of-10 from the field, netting 17 points in this one. Fanny Paulin had nine points, and Cheyenne Scott had eight.

Florida Tech shot 49 percent from the field (28-of-57), including 11-of-21 from three-point range (11-of-21). The Panthers shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, including a 6-for-12 showing from behind the arc.

Uggen hit a three to start the scoring for the Panthers and Allen had two of her own, as Florida Tech stretched a 3-2 lead to 13-2. The Panthers completed a 12-0 run with Scott getting her fourth consecutive point, giving her team a 15-2 lead.

Florida Tech had a stretch of four scoreless minutes before Fanny Hakanson hit a layup. Paulin hit a three before UPRB got a three at the buzzer by Anzairys Martinez to make it 21-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Puerto Rico Bayamon got the Panthers lead down to eight in the first two minutes of the second quarter, but Paulin drilled a three to make it a 30-19 game. Allen would hit a three with 5:30 to go hit five of six shots. Hakanson made it 37-21 with a jumper.

The Panthers would get a few more points on free-throws, but they would end the half without a field goal in the last 5:04. They would lead 40-27 at the break.

Each team had a 7-0 run in the third quarter, but the Panthers again went almost four minutes without a field goal. Despite the struggles, the Panthers upped their lead to 63-44 with one quarter to go.

It took 2:15 for Bayamon to score the first points of the fourth, as they started on a 6-2 run. Uggen had an individual seven-point run, including a three, helping the Panthers to a 72-50 lead.

Freshman Jaida Hall would score the Panthers final two points of the contest with a layup with one second left, giving her the first two points of her Panther career.

For more info: Puerto Rico Bayamon @ Florida Tech Box Score

Everyone got to play, and we got some quality minutes, and I thought the effort was good for the most part,” said Reynolds.

The Panthers will be back at it on Saturday, at noon against Clayton State.

Editors note: Billy Mims comments are courtesy of his postgame interview with Jim Mitchell on floridatechsports.com