Header Pic: Fanny Paulin – Credit: Florida Tech Athletics

The Florida Tech women’s basketball team remained winless in the conference on Saturday, falling 78-60 to the Saint Leo Lions.

Florida Tech (2-14, 0-11 SSC) saw Aiste Vaitekunaite and Fanny Paulin each score 14 points, with Severine Uggen scoring 12. Lina Stranger-Johannessen added eight.

The Panthers were 21-for-62 from the floor in this one, shooting 33.9 percent. They went 9-for-26 from three-point range, (34.6 percent), and struggled from the charity stripe hitting nine of 15, good for 60 percent).

Amanda Ulrich led Saint Leo’s attack with an impressive 29 point night. She was 10-for-16 from the floor including two three-pointers. She also went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.

An issue with the clock before the game got underway resulted in an administrative technical foul. Hannah Roney took the free throw for the Panthers and that put the visitors up 1-0 prior to the opening tip.

Saint Leo took an early 9-3 lead but a three from Uggen closed the gap to 9-6 with 5:57 left in the opening stanza. A Vaitekunaite jumper got the Panthers to within three, 11-8 with 4:43 left, but the Lions would finish the quarter on an 11-3 run and lead 22-11 at the buzzer. The only Panthers’ points over that span came on an Uggen three with 1:39 left.

Stranger-Johannessen started the second quarter with a layup. It was the start of a personal 7-0 run for her that ended with a three-pointer with 7:40 left, cutting the Lions lead to 25-18.

An Uggen three cut it to 28-21 and she would get one from the free-throw line later, making it 28-22. Her next three would make it 31-25 with 5:20 left but the Lions came back with seven consecutive points to go up 38-25. The home team would go to the locker room with a 42-32 lead.

Saint Leo started the third quarter on an 8-2 run but a three by Paulin made it 50-37. Paulin had eight points in the third quarter alone, including another three with 41 seconds left to cut the Lions lead to 56-44 going into the fourth quarter.

It would be the Panthers’ best quarter of the day, as they outscored Saint Leo 22-16. 

The home team started the final period with back-to-back threes, but Roney’s three with 6:31 left made it 64-52. Uggen made it a nine-point game with her basket, but the Lions reeled off seven straight points, making it 72-55.

Unfortunately for Florida Tech, they just ran out of clock in this one, as the Lions hung on for the 18-point win.

For more info: Florida Tech @ Saint Leo Box Score

With the loss, the Panthers fell to 0-6 on the road. They will have a chance to break that on Wednesday with a visit to Lakeland, to take on Florida Southern at 5:30 p.m.