Stetson set a new
school-record with 14 three-pointers including eight in the first half alone as
the Hatters defeated visiting Ball State 78-66 Sunday afternoon at the Edmunds
Center.
Shanasa Sanders and Victoria
McGowan each hit four three-pointers and finished with 16 points apiece, while
Sasha Sims added 14 points and collected four rebounds.
“Everyone did an awesome job
today,” Sanders said. “Everyone found
the open player and everyone was knocking down shots. Overall it was a good win and a good game for
us.”
Stetson shot 50% from the field
(29-for-58) and 50% from behind the arc (14-for-28). The 14 threes surpassed the previous school mark
of 12, which was reached twice last season.
“We knocked down a lot of threes
because that shot was open,” Stetson head coach Lynn Bria said. “Ball State packed the paint so of course the three
is going to be open. (Hitting three
pointers) opens up everything for us. It
makes you a lot harder to guard. Every day
we get up a lot of shots in practice.”
The Hatters also recorded 24
assists in the game, including a career-high nine from Jama Sharp and seven
more from McGowan.
“I thought we shared the ball very
well,” Bria said. “It's been a long time
since we have had that many assists. I really like what we are doing, we are
taking good shots, we are working to get great shots, and we are sharing the
ball. I am really proud of our offensive
effort.”
Similar to the Bethune-Cookman
game on Tuesday, the Hatters led nearly wire-to-wire, but had to hold off
several Ball State (2-4) runs. Stetson
saw a nine-point first-half lead cut to three, and a 19-point second half
advantage trimmed to seven.
“Our defense was better today, but
that's the area we have to improve on the most,” Bria said. “We have to get where we are getting several stops
in a row. We do it in spurts here and
there, but we have to do a better job of doing it over a period of time.”
Also filling up the stat sheet on Sunday
was Cherisse Burris with nine points, Simone Taylor with eight, and Ashley
Dennis and Ashley Buis with six points each.
“I thought Ashley Dennis had a
great game, she came off the bench and really sparked us,” Bria said. “Jama Sharp had nine assists and Victoria had
seven. Those two players can score and they
can hit three, but for them to share the ball was really impressive. I thought Sasha Sims had a great game for
us. She hit some big threes and did very
well defensively for us.”
The Hatters finished a busy month
of November with a 3-3 record. Stetson
has also won seven straight and 19 of its last 20 games at home.
“We'd like to be 6-0, every coach
in the country would like to be 6-0,” Bria said. “But I look at today's game, and then I look
back at the Hofstra game, we are so much better now than we were that game. My measure is
as long as we continue to improve and get better both offensively and
defensively, then I am happy with where we are.
“I like it that we are all still
healthy. But we do need a little bit of
break. We have put in a lot of games,
but it was good for our players to have that test and play through some
adversity and through some fatigue.”
After an eight-day break, Stetson
will host its annual Volusia County Schoolchildren Day on Tuesday, Dec. 4. The morning tip-off is set for 11 a.m. at the
Edmunds Center.
***
Notes: Stetson played six games in the first 17 days of
the season, but will play just twice over the next 19 days as the student-athletes
prepare for fall semester final exams … Stetson's 10-0 run in the second half was its longest of the season so far. Sims and Sanders each hit back-to-back threes and Burris and Taylor each converted lay-ups during the run ... The last time Stetson recorded 24+ assists in a game was Jan. 3, 1998, 26 assists in a 102-99 overtime loss to UCF ... As they have done all season, Ball State dressed just eight players for the game - all eight played 20 minutes or more.
