MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- In a game the Buccaneers used so much effort to recover, things didn't fall their way Saturday.
Barry lost the Sunshine State Conference opener to Florida Tech, 77-56, at Health & Sports Center -- the first loss of the season for the Bucs.
The Bucs (5-1, 0-1 SSC) cut a 15-point first half deficit down to six when Tyler Hardy scored with 1:25 to play. But the momentum quickly shifted back to the Panthers (4-2, 1-0) when Jasmire Brown answered on the other end and with a pair of free throws following one of Barry's 14 turnovers to push the lead back to 10 entering the break.
Barry was outscored, 23-5, in points off turnovers.
Hardy was 8 of 10 from the field in the first half, providing over half of the Bucs' offense. She scored all of her 17 points in the first half.
Florida Tech stretched its lead to 20 at the 15:31 mark of the second half. Barry cut it to 16 when Jackie Perez hit a three-pointer with 9:27 remaining, but Brown hit a layup at the 6:15 mark to push the lead back to 21. Colette Eule's layup brought the Buccaneers within 15, but it was too little too late with 2:12 remaining.
Brown led all scorers with 26 points, and had six boards and five steals. Kayk Wilson scored 23 points and had seven boards for the Panthers, who outscored Barry, 12-0, in transition.
Perez, Amanda Frontino and Dominique Dixon each had nine points for Barry, which shot 41.1 percent from the field. Perez and Dixon each had five boards. Eule had eight points.
Barry is off until Dec. 14 when the Buccaneers host Johnson & Wales at 5:30 p.m. at HSC.