BRUNSWICK, Ga.- The Ave Maria University women's basketball team will head into the 2024 Sun Conference Tournament as the third seed, following Saturday's 56-50 victory over the Coastal Georgia Mariners in Brunswick. The Gyrenes finished tied for second in the Sun Conference, but will host sixth-seeded Warner after falling via tiebreaker to the second seed, Keiser. Ave Maria earned their tenth conference win Saturday, erasing a double-digit deficit to finish the regular season with a 19-9 record.
Ave Maria found themselves in an early hole in the regular season finale, as Coastal Georgia raced out to a 20-10 lead after ten minutes of play. AMU took five more shots than the Mariners in the opening frame, but Coastal Georgia made seven of their 12 attempts, compared to four makes on 17 tries for AMU. It initially seemed like Ave Maria would be in control after AMU jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but Coastal ended the quarter on a 20-4 run, taking a ten-point lead to the second quarter.
The Gyrene defense stiffened in the second quarter, with Coastal Georgia's offensive output falling from 20 points to eight. However, AMU's offense remained stagnant with a second consecutive ten point quarter. Colleen Shanahan accounted for all but one of Ave Maria's made field goals, getting the Gyrenes as close as four points before Coastal Georgia scored the final four points of the quarter to take a 28-20 lead into the halftime break.
Down eight, the Gyrenes finally turned the tide in the third quarter. Ave Maria tied the game for the first time since the first quarter on a layup from Emily Rapacz with 4:09 to play in the frame, then took the lead on a pair of free throws from Casey Humphrey. That lead would last for the remainder of the frame, as Ave Maria finally led at the end of quarter, holding a 38-35 edge with ten minutes to play.
With a tenth conference win hanging in the balance, the Gyrenes finished off the Mariners in the final ten minutes. Coastal Georgia did have the lead with four minutes to play, but Ave Maria took the lead for good on five straight points - a three-pointer and two free throws - from Casey Humphrey. Coastal did have the ball down three in the final minute, but a missed layup and Gyrene free throws allowed AMU to ice the game.
Colleen Shanahan made seven of her eleven field goal attempts to lead the Gyrenes in scoring, finishing with 14 points. Emily Rapacz had her typical productive night, logging 13 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. Casey Humphrey rounded out an Ave Maria trio in double figures, scoring 12 points including five key free throws without a miss.
As the third seed, Ave Maria earns the right to host a Sun Conference tournament game Tuesday night. It will be AMU's first home postseason game in more than five years, with the last coming in 2019 in the previous version of the Tom Golisano Field House. Ave Maria will host sixth-seeded Warner, and will seek to accomplish a difficult task in beating the Royals three times. The winner will advance to play second-seeded Keiser Friday night in Lakeland on the campus of Southeastern University.
