MIAMI SHORES, Fla.—The Barry Buccaneers came out of the break with a huge Sunshine State Conference win, 67-61, over the league-leading Lynn Fighting Knights in women’s basketball in the Health & Sports Center on Wednesday.
The Bucs (7-4, 2-0 SSC) rode a wave of three-point shooting in the second half, hitting 7-of-19, to secure the win.
Shanna Suttington led the Bucs with 18 points and five assists, while Danielle DeBerry added 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Yvonne Houston had 11 points and a team-high eight boards and Colette Eule came off the bench with 10 points. Alexandria Zamora had seven points and seven boards and blocked nine shots, the second-highest total in school history. Marquis Lee led Lynn with a game-high 25 points and Tashina Bailey chipped in 10.
The game was a nip-and-tuck affair with 10 ties and 12 lead changes. After going into the locker room tied 26-26, the Bucs took a three-point lead, 33-30, on a layup by Zamora with 16:10 left. The Knights (7-5, 2-1 SSC) responded with a 16-7 run over the next four minutes to take a 46-40 lead on a jumper by Karolina Bazua with 11:59 remaining.
The game was tied 55-55 on a jumper by Lynn’s Charla Nelson-James with 6:02 and Tashina Bailey converted at 5:20 to put the Knights up 57-55.
But Barry ran off six straight points as Suttington and DeBerry hit back-to-back three-pointers and the Bucs never trailed. After a bucket by Lee at 0:51 trimmed the lead to two, 63-61, Tasheema Lewis came up big on a offensive rebound and the Knights were forced to foul. Houston nailed four-of-four from the line in the final 0:19 seconds to preserve the win.
The Bucs host the defending conference champs, the Tampa Spartans, on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 2:00 pm. Live coverage of the game is available through GameCentral on GoBarryBucs.com.