MELBOURNE, Fla. – Barry University women’s basketball team picked up its fifth win in the past six games, beating host Florida Tech, 77-62, Saturday in the final regular season game. The win sends the Buccaneers into Wednesday’s Sunshine State Conference Tournament first round game in a rematch with Florida Tech with a 16-10 overall, 8-8 league mark.
Barry finished fifth in the SSC. Tech (16-12, 7-9) finished sixth. The two teams will meet again at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Fla. The Bucs are ranked ninth in the South Region poll. The top eight teams advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Barry trailed by 12 points with 9:39 to play in the first half, but the Buccaneers stormed back with a 19-2 run to take a five-point lead on Colette Eule’s three-pointer 3:39 before the halftime buzzer.
Kaylia Richardson had 12 points and seven rebounds in the first half. Eule and Tyler Hardy each scored eight points in the opening half.
The Bucs, who shot 43.9 percent, built a 13-point lead when Hardy converted a three-point play with 5:22 to play. Richardson scored on an assist from Hardy with 3:16 to go to increase Barry’s lead to 67-53.
Eule’s layup with 1:30 gave the Buccaneers an 18-point lead, and Tech couldn’t recover.
Hardy finished with her 10th double-double of the season, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. She was 9-for-9 at the free throw line, and had four assists. Richardson had 21 points, 10 boards and two blocks. It was Richardson’s second double-double of the season.
Eule finished with 18 points and four rebounds. Ines Kerin had 12 points and five assists.
Tech’s Kayk Wilson had 23 points, and Rosie Hynes 11.
BARRY 77, FLORIDA TECH 62
BARRY (16-10, 8-8 SSC)
HARDY, Tyler 6-17 9-9 22; RICHARDSON, Kaylia 8-9 5-6 21; EULE, Colette 5-15
5-6 18; KERIN, Ines 4-8 2-2 12; PISCONERI, Danika 1-2 0-3 2; PORCHER, Nyjah
1-2 0-0 2; RICHARDSON, Lynae 0-0 0-0 0; JENKINS, Alesha 0-4 0-2 0. Totals
25-57 21-28 77.
FLORIDA TECH (16-12, 7-9 SSC)
WILSON, Kayk 8-25 2-3 23; HYNES, Rosie 4-10 2-4 11; CALLENDER, Kaila 2-4 2-2
7; GUSTAFSSON, Ida 2-3 3-4 7; COOPER, Diamond 2-4 2-2 6; ECHOLS, Melissa 1-6
0-0 3; ACEVEDO, Rita 1-4 0-0 2; BROWN, Jasmire 1-6 0-1 2; DAVIS, BreAnn 0-5
1-2 1; CLEMENT, Brittany 0-0 0-0 0; STEINERT, Morgan 0-0 0-0 0; FLAGLER,
Tiesha 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-69 12-18 62.
Barry......................... 33 44 - 77
Florida Tech.................. 30 32 - 62
3-point goals--Barry 6-17 (EULE, Colette 3-9; KERIN, Ines 2-5; HARDY, Tyler
1-3), Florida Tech 8-27 (WILSON, Kayk 5-17; HYNES, Rosie 1-1; ECHOLS,
Melissa 1-5; CALLENDER, Kaila 1-1; BROWN, Jasmire 0-2; ACEVEDO, Rita 0-1).
Fouled out--Barry-None, Florida Tech-FLAGLER, Tiesha. Rebounds--Barry 48
(HARDY, Tyler 12), Florida Tech 39 (COOPER, Diamond 8). Assists--Barry 15
(KERIN, Ines 5; PORCHER, Nyjah 5), Florida Tech 11 (ACEVEDO, Rita 5). Total
fouls--Barry 15, Florida Tech 27. Technical fouls--Barry-None, Florida
Tech-FLAGLER, Tiesha. A-400
Barry is the No. 5 seed in the upcoming SSC Tournament and the Panthers are
No. 6