MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern Women’s basketball team took down the Barry Bucs in this afternoon’s County-Line Cup matchup in Miami Shores. A big second quarter from the Sharks and double-digit efforts from Payton Graber (13) and Alana Ellis (12) ultimately led to the 68-53 rivalry win.
SCORE: No. 21 Nova Southeastern 68, Barry 53
RECORDS: No. 21 Nova Southeastern 17-3, 10-2 SSC, Barry 13-8, 6-7 SSC
LOCATION: Health & Sports Center | Miami Shores, Fla.
GET SOCIAL: Instagram & Twitter – NSU_WBasketball
First Half – Neither team could gain a substantial lead in the first as they kept things tied at 20-20 after one. NSU’s suffocating defense took control of the game as they held Barry to seven points on 2/16 shooting in the second quarter. Aubrey Stupp, Alana Ellis, and Michaela Cloonan combined for 13 of the Sharks 19 points in the quarter, putting the Sharks ahead 39-27 going into the break.
Second Half – NSU came out firing in the second half, led by Madison Cloonan, Alana Ellis, and Corina Conley as they took a 19-point lead to go up 52-33 with 5:39 to go in the third, forcing the Bucs to call timeout. Barry, began to chip away at the Sharks lead, bringing their deficit back down to nine at the end of the quarter, with NSU holding on to a 54-45 lead heading into the fourth. The quarter’s first five minutes featured a defensive battle as both teams combined for nine points through that stretch. Shortly after, big shots from Dash Shaw, Kailyn Terrell, and Alana Ellis helped close out the rivalry win for NSU, 68-53.
Head Coach LeAnn Freeland-Curry – “Our players played extremely hard together for forty minutes and executed the game plan well against a very talented and athletic Barry squad. Our players rose to the occasion and it was great to avenge our loss to Barry from earlier this season. Aubrey distributed the ball extremely well vs. their matchup zone and ended with seven assists. We shot the ball well and played together for forty minutes.”
Payton Graber– “This was a much-needed win for us. I think we played extremely tough defense and executed the game plan well. We took away their strengths and played great team basketball!”
Payton Graber – 12 points
Aubrey Stupp – 7 assists, 5 rebounds
Nova Southeastern will travel to Tampa for a matchup against their SSC foe, the Tampa Spartans on Wednesday, February 5th. Tip-off is set for 5:30 PM.