Fire Cruise to Road Win over Wildcats

NORTH MIAMI, Fla.— A consistent performance and a huge first quarter helped the fifth-ranked Fire women’s basketball team rout Johnson & Wales 109-74 on the road Saturday afternoon. Southeastern remained undefeated in league play (13-0) and improved to 20-2 overall thanks to the impressive wire-to-wire victory.
SEU capitalized on Wildcat mistakes early in the game, as turnovers plagued JWU in the first quarter. Southeastern forced two errors and immediately jumped out to a 4-0 start within the opening minute.
After Johnson & Wales knocked down two triples, making the score 9-6 with seven minutes left, the Fire closed the frame on a 27-3 run thanks to 16 points off of nine Wildcat mistakes.
SEU connected on 15 of 19 field goals in the period to take a 36-9 advantage heading into the second quarter. Both Makenzie Cann (12 points on 5-5 shooting) and Elsa Paulsson-Glantz (10 points on 5-7 FG) ended the quarter in double digits.
Another ten points from Paulsson-Glantz in the second quarter guided the Fire to a 62-30 halftime lead.
Southeastern continued to produce for the remainder of the competition, shooting an outstanding 54.5% from the field overall and increasing their lead to as many as 44 by sharing the ball effectively. Thirty-one of SEU’s 42 made field goals were assisted.
With just eight minutes to go in the game, senior Halee Printz dished the ball to Marlena Schmidt, who drained her shot attempt to give Printz a double-double and the Fire an 88-55 advantage. Printz finished with 14 points and 12 helpers. Schmidt scored 19 on 8-10 shooting and grabbed eight boards.
Shortly after Printz notched a double-double, Paulsson-Glantz put SEU over the century mark with 4:55 remaining. Five different Fire athletes registered at least ten points, including Raegan Linster, who hit double digits for the fourth time in five games with her ten-point effort off of the bench.
Paulsson-Glantz ended the day with a season-high 30 points and eight assists, while Cann contributed with 26 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals to help Southeastern cruise to the 109-74 victory.
Southeastern will now travel to Ave Maria for a contest on February 2nd. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.