Women’s Basketball Wins Third Straight South Region Championship

Sharks snap top seed Union’s 18-game home winning streak and win 67-62.

Go Sharks!

For the third straight season, the Nova Southeastern University women’s basketball team has claimed the South Region championship and will advance to the NCAA Elite Eight, beginning next week in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as they defeated Union on their home floor Monday night, 67-62.

A back-and-forth first half saw the Sharks (27-5) gain the lead at 4:45, 28-26, and extend it to seven at the break, 39-32. Union (28-4) was shooting 75.0 percent at the under-8 media timeout, but the NSU defense helped dwindle that all the way down to 44.4 at the half, below the Sharks’ 46.9.

Back-to-back 3-pointers out of the break by Danielle Robinson (Sr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Alexis Murphy (Jr., Carlisle, Ohio) made for the first double-digit lead of the game and what would be the biggest advantage of the contest of 13 (45-32, 19:00).

The Lady Bulldogs would chip back, actually regaining the lead momentarily after being down 10 at the 7:21 mark (59-49). Two free throws by Amy Philamlee at 3:42 capped an 11-0 Union run to make it 60-59, the home team’s first lead since 26-25 (at 6:10 in the first half).

After a turnover, the Shark ‘D’ forced a long-range miss, and Monaye Merritt (R-Jr., Philadelphia) answered with a huge 3-pointer of her own at 2:29 to quiet the boisterous crowd of 1,138 and give NSU a 62-60 lead.

Though Union’s Amber Rechis tied it with two free throws at 1:27, Jessica Valley (R-Jr., Lafayette, Ind.) streaked past the Union defense for a banked layin and the lead again at 1:08. Union milked the clock but weren’t able to get a shot off, as Valley came up with a steal with 33.9 seconds left. The Lady Bulldogs then had to use the next 4.7 seconds to commit four fouls to put the Sharks in the bonus.

The seventh foul finally put Jasmine Wilkins (R-Sr., Miami) on the line, where she hit the front end for a three-point lead. Again, the Lady Bulldogs used quite a bit of clock, and the Sharks forced an airballed 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock cycle with about 15 seconds left. Valley tracked down the rebound, and found Wilkins with a perfect baseball pass for a runout and breakaway layin to ice the title.

Wilkins led the Sharks with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting and had six rebounds. Valley added 13 (also going 6-of-11), eight assists and seven boards, while Winter Rodriguez (So., Miami) had a career-best 12 points. Merritt and Robinson each had nine points, with Merritt pacing the Sharks with eight rebounds and adding five assists (against zero turnovers), and Murphy chipped in with eight points in the win.

Philamlee led Union with 17 points, eight below her NCAA-leading average of 24.9. Rechis had 13, Jaclissa Haislip and Kelsey Risner 11, and DeAnna Thompson 10 as the Lady Bulldogs’ win streak of 13 (and 16 at home this season and 18 overall in the Fred DeLay Gymnasium) came to an end.

The Sharks begin their third straight Elite Eight run next Tuesday, March 24, and they will face the top seed out of the Atlantic Region, California (Pa.). The Vulcans defeated Bloomsburg 72-69 in overtime Monday to move to 29-4 on the season. Game time at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls is still yet to be determined.