LAKELAND, Fla. — It was a rough second and third quarters for the Ave Maria Women's Basketball team Wednesday evening as the Gyrenes fell to the Southeastern Fire 84-70. AMU saw a three-point deficit got to a 22-point deficit in the span of the middle 20 minutes.
The Gyrenes started off hot, scoring the first six points of the game. It didn't take long for Southeastern to catch up however and tie the game at eight. SEU then took the lead with the next basket and never gave it back.
Ave Maria hung with the Fire for the rest of the quarter, forcing two more ties, but could not find a way to grab the lead.
The second quarter really hurt the Gyrenes. As a team Ave Maria went 5-for-18 from the floor, shooting just 27.78%. On the other side of the court, Southeastern hit nine of their 16 shots, doubling up the Gyrenes in points 22-11 in the quarter. At the break, Ave Maria found themselves down 39-25.
AMU shot the ball better in the third quarter, going 7-for-14 from the floor, but still couldn't keep up with the Fire, who outscored the Gyrenes 25-17 in the frame. SEU hit their largest lead of the night in the third quarter.
The Gyrenes finally outscored the Fire in the fourth quarter. Ave Maria scored 28 points to Southeastern's 20 in their comeback attempt. Ella Thompson, who scored 10 points in the quarter, hit a layup with a little under 90 seconds to make it a 10-point game. The Gyrenes had made valiant comebacks in their last two games and were starting to believe in this one but just ran out of time as the Fire hit two more shots and held AMU scoreless until the end of the game.
With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 3-5 in conference play and 7-12 overall. At the halfway point of the conference season, the Gyrenes find themselves in fifth place in the standings.
Colleen Shanahan led the team in scoring with 17 points. Shanahan also led the team in rebounds with 10, posting her eighth double-double of the season. Thompson was the only other Gyrene in double digits with 14.
Ave Maria is home for their next game Saturday against the Webber Warriors. The Gyrenes opened their conference schedule at Webber and lost a back-and-forth game to the Warriors 67-64. Since then, Webber has lost seven straight conference games. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
