Header pic: Hannah Roney – Credit: Florida Tech Athletics
The Flagler Saints got a victory over Florida Tech in St. Augustine on Saturday, beating the Panthers 76-63 in a women’s basketball rematch. The Panthers won back on November 16 in Melbourne, 82-73.
Florida Tech held a 17-11 lead after the first quarter and led 32-30 at the half. They let Flagler back in the game in the third, as the Saints outscored the Panthers 23-12.
“The third quarter was the difference,” said Panthers coach John Reynolds. “We kept giving the ball away and they took advantage of it.”
Florida Tech has now dropped three in a row and fallen to 1-5 overall this season. Flagler improves to 5-3.
“We had a lead at the half, but these guys have to remember Flagler was wearing the white uniforms. Having 16 turnovers in the second half was the problem.”
Hannah Roney led the Panthers with 17 points, including five three-pointers, and Fanny Paulin had 14. Severine Uggen and Fanny Paulin had six rebounds each, while Fanny Hakanson had five rebounds and seven assists, to go along with five steals.
Tori Pearce led the Saints with 28 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists, and six steals while Jaziana Mathis had 25 points, and Sadie Russell had eight points and 12 rebounds.
“I don’t mind if they get their average but 53 combined points from them are not what we want,” said Reynolds of Pearce and Mathis. “They are good players, but we gave them a lot of good looks at the basket.”
The Panthers started the game on a 9-0 run and extended it to 12-4 with a three from Hakanson. The Panthers extended the lead to 17-8, but a three from Mathis at the buzzer cut the lead to six.
Mathis picked up where she left off with another three 1:08 into the second quarter, making it 17-14. After an Uggen basket, Pearce gave Flagler a 20-19 lead. Roney then drained a three to put the Panthers up by two. She would hit from downtown again with just over three minutes left in the quarter, giving the Panthers a 27-24 lead.
The game went back-and-forth for the rest of the quarter until Paulin beat the buzzer to end the first half and put the Panthers up 32-30.
Things got away from the Panthers in the third quarter. Mathis hit a three with 8:32 to go, tying the game at 35. That sparked a 21-7 run for the home team and they went on to outscore the Panthers 23-12 in the quarter and led 53-44 heading into the fourth.
Flagler led 55-48 early in the stanza but Lina Stranger-Johannessen got the Panthers back into it, hitting consecutive threes to cut the Panthers deficit to 55-54. The Saints answered with an 8-0 run and led 63-54 with 2:30 left. A three out of the hand of Paulin stopped the bleeding.
Roney would get the Panthers’ last three points with 1:43 to go, but the Saints put this one out of reach from the charity stripe.
For more info: Florida Tech @ Flagler Box Score
Florida Tech finished 23-for-65 from the field (35.4 percent). They were 11-for-28 (39.3 percent) from beyond the arc, and 6-for-8 (75 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Panthers had a slim advantage in rebounding, 41-40 but the 23 turnovers led to 23 points off turnovers. The Saints also had 40 points in the paint.
“This game is over,” said Reynolds. “We will learn from it and we better learn to take care of the basketball.”
Florida Tech returns home on Wednesday, December 1 for a conference game against Florida Southern. The game will tip at 5:30 p.m.