MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry University's basketball teams host Florida Southern Saturday afternoon at Health & Sports Center in a bid to position themselves for the Sunshine State Conference tournament. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
Barry's women's team has won a league-best six straight games, and is tied with No. 11 Rollins College for first place in the conference. The Buccaneers (15-6, 9-2) have not lost since suffering a 62-40 setback at then-No. 7 Rollins on Jan. 18.
Rollins (18-3, 9-2) hosts Saint Leo Saturday. The Bucs and Tars will hook up again when Barry hosts Rollins at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22. Both the Buccaneers and Tars appear to be a lock to host a first round league tournament game on Feb. 29. The top eight teams in the league qualify for the postseason conference tourney.
Barry is ranked 25th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents 56.2 points per game. The Bucs are also ranked 18th in the country in turnovers per game, limiting their mistakes to 15.2 per contest.
Senior Alex Zamora ranks 50th in the country in blocked shots at 1.8 per game. Senior guards Shanna Suttington and Danielle DeBerry are averaging 10.9 and 9.0 points per game, respectively. Senior forward Yvonne Houston, who missed Wednesday's game for precautionary reasons after a dizzy spell earlier in the day, is scoring 9.7 points per game.
Zamora is the team's leading rebounder at 8.4 per game. She is 24 away from 200 this season.
Barry's men are tied for sixth in the SSC, a game behind Lynn for fourth. The top four teams in the SSC host a first round SSC tourney game on Wednesday, Feb. 29.
The Buccaneers (11-12, 5-6) rank 11th in the country in blocked shots per game, and junior forward Jermaine Edwards is 34th nationally in that category. The Bucs are 31st in the nation in field goal percentage defense at 40.6 per game.
Senior guard Evan White leads Barry in scoring at 13.5 points per game. He has scored in double figures in 17 games this year, including a stretch in which he reached 10 or more in eight straight tips. Junior guard Chad Renfro is averaging 12.2 points per game.
Florida Southern has four players averaging in double figures, headlined by Seth Evans' 16.7 per game.
Barry will spend all of next week on the road, playing at Florida Tech Wednesday and at Eckerd next Saturday before hosting Rollins Feb. 22 and Saint Leo Feb. 25 on Senior Day.
Admission to Health & Sports Center games is $5 for adults, $3 for non-Barry students and senior citizens. Barry students, faculty and staff are admitted free with a BUC Card ID.