WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —- The Ave Maria's Women's Basketball team beat the Keiser Seahawks Tuesday night 61-45 to advance to the Sun Conference Semifinal. It is the fourth year in a row the Gyrenes have knocked out the Seahawks and the third year in that four year stretch to do it in West Palm Beach.
The Gyrenes grabbed the lead late in the first quarter and never let go. After some early back and forth, Lavariah Armstead hit a layup to put the Gyrenes up 8-7 with three minutes left in the frame. Casey Humphrey hit two threes in the final two minutes of the quarter to give AMU a 14-10 lead heading into the second. The two three pointers put Humphrey past Amy Myler (2009-13) for the fifth-most career points in program history.
The second quarter was all Ave Maria as they outscored the Seahawks 17-7. Lavariah Armstead had the lion's share of the scoring in the second frame, putting up eight points. Ella Thompson also hit a big three in the early stages of the quarter, the Gyrenes' third of the night. Defensively, Ave Maria held Keiser to just 2-for-11 from the floor, both inside the arc.
Heading into halftime, the Gyrenes led 31-17.
After an opening Keiser bucket in the third quarter, Ave Maria went on a 9-1 run to lead the Seahawks by 20, their largest lead of the night. Thompson opened the run with her second three-pointer of the night.
Keiser responded with a big run of their own in the final five minutes of the quarter, cutting the 20-point deficit in half heading into the fourth. It was the lone cold stretch of the night for the Gyrenes, going 2-for-9 from the floor, but they still led 44-34 after three.
The two teams tightened up in the early stages of the fourth quarter with a trip to the Sun Conference Semifinals on the line. Thompson finally opened the game up with back-to-back threes to put the Gyrenes up 54-38 with five minutes left. Thompson finished the game with four trifectas which is a season-high for the senior.
Keiser tried one more push to comeback, but the Gyrenes kept connecting on layups, going 3-for-3 from the floor in the final four minutes, to ice the game.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Gyrenes walked off the court with a 61-45 win. It is the fourth year in a row the Gyrenes have knocked the Seahawks out of the postseason. It is also the third year in those four years that Gyrenes have won in West Palm Beach in the Quarterfinals.
"Honestly, I am just extremely proud," said head coach Alex Moorehead following the win. "I thought the ladies just [executed really well] the game plan we had, and we got the win in the end."
Armstead led the team with 20 points, her third game this season over scoring 20 or more points. Three other Gyrenes joined her double figures with Thompson and Humphrey at 12 and Colleen Shanahan at 10. Shanahan led the team with nine rebounds, just one shy of a double-double.
With the win, Ave Maria stays in the Sun Conference Tournament and moves on to the Semifinals Friday, February 28, when they will take on the top seeded Florida Memorial Lions. The Gyrenes split with the Lions in the regular season with the home team winning both matchups. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in Miami Gardens and the game will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
