Outside Shooting Helps Fire Down Mariners in TSC Showdown

BRUNSWICK, Ga.—The No. 2 Southeastern women’s basketball team utilized hot shooting from deep en route to a 68-62 victory over conference opponent Coastal Georgia Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Fire improved to 14-2 on the year and remained perfect in conference play (7-0).
Five of the Fire’s first six made shots were three-pointers, led by Jaycee Coe, who started off 3-3 from downtown to give SEU an early 12-8 advantage over Coastal Georgia. Despite the hot start from deep, the Mariners used a 10-0 run late in the first quarter to take a 21-17 lead after ten minutes.
After going down by as many as five points, Southeastern responded with an 8-2 run, recapturing a 25-24 advantage on a three-pointer by Elsa Paulsson-Glantz with 5:34 to go in the half. The Fire ended the second period up 33-31 thanks to a couple of late buckets by Marlena Schmidt, who finished the quarter with six points on 3-4 shooting. Schmidt had ten points and five rebounds on the day.
Both teams were able to keep the contest close through the first half with efficient defense. Southeastern was the better of the two squads from the field, shooting 40.6% (13-32) compared to CCGA’s 32.1% (9-28).
Coe picked up where she left off to begin the third quarter. Back-to-back threes by the senior guard allowed the Fire to jump out to their largest lead of the competition 41-32 with 8:09 left in the third. Coe ended the day with a game-high 20 points, while making five of her eight attempts from three.
However, the Mariners and Fire traded runs in the tight conference contest. Neither team held more than a nine-point advantage in the second half as CCGA closed the gap to just five after three quarters (49-44).
Led by Solrun Gisladottir, who knocked down five threes and had 15 points, the Mariners regained the lead by a score of 52-51 with seven minutes left.
The two squads traded four one-point advantages until Halee Printz drained the team’s 11th make from downtown to seal the game with just over two minutes remaining. The Fire hit 11 of 26 shots from beyond the arc (42.3%), which turned out to be the difference in the competition.
Paulsson-Glantz hit four clutch free throws and grabbed her tenth rebound of the game to clinch a 68-62 victory. The redshirt senior finished with 17 points, collecting her third double-double in the last four games.
The triumph over Coastal Georgia snapped the Mariners’ four-game win streak and marked Southeastern’s third consecutive win.
SEU will be back on the court when they return home to face St. Thomas on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Furnace.