Tech Pounds #20 Fort Valley State, 81-47

Panthers limit Wildcats to only 28.4-percent shooting from field in big win

MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women’s Basketball) – The Panthers used a strong first-half to down 20th-ranked Fort Valley State 81-47 in day two of the Florida Tech Tip-Off Challenge Saturday in the Clemente Center. Tech improves to 2-0 with the win, while the Wildcats wrap up their trip to Florida with an 0-2 record.

For the second consecutive game, Ashton McClairen and Lynisha Nelson scored in double figures for the Panthers. McClairen totaled 15 points on five three-pointers and Nelson added 13 on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor. Briauna Hagins recorded the team’s first double-double of the year as she accounted for 13 of the team’s points and brought down 10 rebounds, four on the offensive end.

“That win was a solid team effort,” Tech head coach John Reynolds said. “Yesterday, we talked about playing smart and we didn’t. Today, I thought we played smart because we didn’t commit stupid fouls. You’re going to foul people and fouls are really errors. We had a lot fewer errors than yesterday because we played defense with our hands straight up, we didn’t try to block shots and we didn’t handcheck.

“I thought we gave a good, all-around solid effort today. No matter who we inserted into the game, they played hard. Rita (Acevedo) and Jasmire (Brown) are freshmen and they made a few mistakes here and there. But they played through their mistakes and then did something better.”

After losing by 25 to the same Wildcats last year in Fort Valley, the Panthers went into the game with revenge on their mind. Thanks to solid shoot and well-played defense in the opening 20 minutes, the Crimson and Gray built up a 26-point lead, 42-18, by the time the two teams entered the locker room. At the time, Tech converted nearly 49-percent of its field goals compared to Fort Valley State, who shot just 25-percent from the hardwood. On the other end of the floor, the Panther defense forced 18 turnovers.

Sharnae Ivery sunk two free throws at the 13:52 mark to put her team up by 30 points, 55-25. Nearly 10 minutes later, Tech’s lead ballooned to as much as 41, its largest of the game, following a pair of shots from the charity stripe by Tamara Dowdell.  

By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Panthers had a clear advantage in shooting percentage, 43.6-percent to 28.4-percent. Twenty-six of Tech’s points came from the free throw line, where it went 26-for-33.

Up next for the Panthers is a home game against Puerto Rico-Bayamon on Friday, Nov. 19, at 5:30 p.m.