DELAND, Fla. – Hatter women's basketball continues its non-conference schedule with a pair of Florida games, facing Denver at home tonight, and a trip to Tallahassee on Sunday with a contest against Florida State. Both games will be live streamed on the ESPN family of networks.
"I think they play really hard and shoot a lot of threes," head coach
Lynn Bria said about Denver "They are like a couple teams in our conference, they spread you out. They like driving too, and they want you to foul them. They are a team that shoots a lot of free throws. We need to make sure we are contesting every shot, rebounding will be key, because if you give them second and third chances they're probably going to hit a three, so in transition getting back and knowing who the shooters then contesting will be making those hard shots instead of open shots is important. They will press, they play a lot of man but also have zone available."
Denver enters Friday's game with a 2-5 record. The Pioneers have split their last two contests, defeating New Mexico State last Saturday, 60-51, at home before falling to Wichita State Wednesday, 61-54, on the road. The only other win came over Loyola Marymount, 73-70 in overtime. Only one loss on the year, a 68-45 loss to Wyoming, has been by more than double figures. Both Pios wins were inside Denver's home court, the Hamilton Gymnasium.
Denver is paced by guard Emma Smith who has scored double figures in each Pioneer game with a season-high 19 points last time out against Wichita State. The previous game, she notched a then season-high 18 in a win over New Mecixo State. DU has three shoots with three-point shooting percentage about 30 with Smith at 35.3, Jojo Jones a team-high 42.1 percent and Mary Wilson rounding out the averages at 36.6. Makayla Minett has been a force in the paint with an average of 9.9 rebounds per game with roughly a third of those on the offensive glass.
The Seminoles have been dominant this season with eight wins in nine games. The lone loss was a two-point neutral-site to Oklahoma State [79-77] in the Women's Cancun Challenge. In their eight wins, FSU is winning games by an average of 16.875 points-per-game. While not unbeatable, the blueprints for beating Florida State may have been found by a few teams. Georgia State got within five, 75-70 in the Donald L. Tucker Center. Houston forced overtime and Kent State kept the game to single digits.
"They are good, big and want to run to score in transition," Bria said about Florida State "They rebound exceptionally well and keeping them off the glass will be a challenge, so we have to gang-rebound and get back to not let them have easy baskets. If we can do that and slow them down, then we have a chance, but if we give them easy baskets then we're in trouble."
Defending against Florida State may be another matter as Ta'Niya Latson is scoring 24.7 points each time on the court. That goes alongside 16.3 from Taylor O'Brien and 13.7 by Makayla Timpson. Timpson is averaging nearly a double-double per game with 9.9 rebounds in each contest. FSU is effective at getting to the foul line on top of that, as they are attempting over 20 free throws per game (21.2).
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being. THE HATTER PURPOSE is to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visit GoHatters.com/HATS (PDF).
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