BOCA RATON, Fla. – Back on top.
Barry University women’s basketball team won its league-leading sixth straight game Wednesday, beating Sunshine State Conference rival Lynn University on the road, 64-59. The win moved the Buccaneers (15-6, 9-2 SSC) into a tie with Rollins College for first place in the league.
But it didn’t come easy, despite a double-digit lead the Bucs built in the opening half.
Lynn connected on five of its first 10 shots to tie the game roughly four-and-a-half minutes into the second half. Danielle DeBerry scored on consecutive possessions to kick Barry’s lead back to three before the Fighting Knights went on a 6-0 run to take a three-point lead of their own.
Jackie Perez buried a three from the corner, and sank a free throw for her second four-point play of the season to push the Buccaneers back on top, 43-42. Perez knocked down her fourth triple of the game with 8:32 left in the game to extend the Bucs’ lead back to six.
Kira Harvey canned a triple to pull the Knights within three, and Marquis Lee sank two free throws with just under three minutes left to tie the game at 55-55. Suttington quickly answered with a layup on the other end to push the Bucs back up by a bucket.
The lead changed hands 11 times, but none after Suttington’s layup. She and DeBerry each sank a pair of free throws inside the final 1:44 to keep Barry ahead by five.
Suttington, celebrating her 22nd birthday, finished with 10 points, eight assists and three steals. DeBerry had 17 points and six rebounds. Perez scored 15 points, going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Harvey finished with 24 points, and Lee scored 15.
Barry hit four triples in the first half, including back-to-back threes by Perez in transition.
The Buccaneers outrebounded the Knights, 21-11, in the first half. Kaley Howard, inserted into the starting lineup after Yvonne Houston was shelved for the night for precautionary reasons, had seven boards in the opening half.
Barry built a 15-point first half lead when DeBerry scored on a layup with 3:39 left on the clock. Lynn went on an 8-0 run, cashing in on Lee’s layup with 40 seconds before the half, to cut the Bucs’ lead to seven.