LAKELAND, Fla. --- A combined 8-0 in Sun Conference action, the TSC Game of the Week featured the Ave Maria women's basketball team and the third-ranked Southeastern Fire. A ten-point game at the half, Southeastern pulled away in the second to top the Gyrenes 78-44.
 
Ave Maria moves to 11-2 on the season and to 4-1 in conference. Southeastern improves to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in TSC play.
 
Sarah Miller led the Gyrenes with 11 points. She attempted only six shots from the field, making two, and was 7-of-11 from the free throw line. She grabbed a team-best nine rebounds. Katie Houbolt added 10 points and five boards.
 
Elsa Paulsson-Glantz led Southeastern with 25 points. Emma Karamovic and Jaycee Coe also finished in double-figures with 12 points and 10 points, respectively.
 
The difference in the game was turnovers and points in the paint. Southeastern forced 23 AMU turnovers and scored 28 points off of them while Ave Maria turned the Fire over six times for  four points. The Fire outscored the Gyrenes in the paint, 54-12.
 
Despite a slow start, three points in the first five minutes, the Gyrenes used a Danielle Weinmann layup with 14 second remaining to take a 15-14 lead after a quarter of play. Southeastern started the second quarter on a 7-0 run to put AMU in a 21-15 hole. AMU kept within a couple possessions before the Fire pushed the lead to 10 heading into the half.
 
The Gyrene defense held the Fire to 34 points in the first half despite the Fire shooting nearly 45 percent. Meanwhile, the Blue and Green shot 30.8 percent and were 1-of-12 from three.
 
Southeastern outscored Ave Maria 24-10 in the third quarter and 20-10 in the fourth to pull away from the Gyrenes. AMU's three-point shooting improved in the second half, 4-of-12, but only got to the free throw line four times in the final 20 minutes compared to 11 times in the first half.
 
Southeastern shot 51.6 percent in the second half to separate themselves from AMU.
 
Ave Maria now has over three weeks between games. The Gyrenes return to the court on December 31, when they host Fisher (Mass.) at 2 p.m.