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Sailfish Beat Slumping Panthers

The struggles continued Wednesday for the Florida Tech women’s basketball team. They dropped a 71-59 decision to the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish at the Clemente Center and have now lost six in a row.

Florida Tech (3-21, 1-18 SSC) shot 30.3 percent for the game (20-for-66), including 9-for-34 (26.5 percent) from three-point range. PBA was 29-for-66 from the floor (43.9%) and 7-for-20 (35 percent) from beyond the arc.

“They had a better effort than we did,” said Panthers coach John Reynolds in his postgame interview with Jim Mitchell. “Our defensive effort in the fourth quarter was horrendous. We had players that didn’t guard anybody.”

Fanny Paulin led the Panthers with 15 points and five rebounds and two steals. Hannah Roney had 13 points, two rebounds, and two steals, and Severine Uggen had 11 points, two rebounds, and three steals. 

 PBA’s Shekinah Guthrie led all scorers with 20 points. Kash Ayuso had 13 points. 

Florida Tech started the game on a 5-0 run with a three from Roney and a hoop from Paulin. The Sailfish went up 12-7, but the Panthers went on a 7-0 run and led 14-12 before PBA tied the game at the end of the first quarter.

The teams traded buckets for the first four minutes of the second quarter. The Sailfish got a three from Courtni Demorest to go up 24-19 with 4:47 left in the half. They went up 28-22 before Roney knocked down a three with 2:10 left. Another three by Paulin closed the gap to 30-28 and Paulin’s layup tied the game at 30. Severine Uggen gave the Panthers a 31-30 lead, headed into the locker room.

The Sailfish jumped out 40-36 to start the third, but a three by Lina Stranger-Johannessen made it a one-point game. That was followed by a Roney three to give the Panthers a 42-40 lead. The third quarter ended with the Panthers down 51-47 and then the wheels came off.

PBA started the fourth with a 15-2 run and led 66-49 with 3:39 to go. A free throw by Stranger-Johannessen ended the run and got the Panthers to 50 and started a five-point spurt for the Panthers that ended with a three out of the hand of Uggen to make it 66-55.  Stranger-Johannessen hit two more free throws and Aayana Nedd got the last basket of the game with four seconds left, making it 71-59.

For more info: PBA @ Florida Tech Box Score

The Panthers struggled on the boards, losing the rebounding battle 52-34. That’s after PBA held a 24-20 advantage at halftime.

“We’re not winning a league game shooting 30 percent,” said Reynolds. “You’re not winning any game when you get outrebounded by 18 rebounds, 14 in the second half. One team wanted to play hard in the second half and one team just wanted to get the hell out of here.”

The Panthers will close out the season Saturday at home against Eckerd. Senior Day will be held before the 2:00 p.m. tip.