Jacksonville, Fla. - Delia De La Torre scored a team-high 18 points and Chelsea Dermyer added 15 points as the FGCU women's basketball team lost its conference opener on the road to the A-Sun Preseason favorite, Jacksonville Dolphins 62-58 Saturday afternoon at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
FGCU falls to 5-6 overall this season and 0-1 in the A-Sun. Jacksonville improves to 11-3 on the season and start the A-Sun 1-0.
Jacksonville erased a five-point deficit at the half by shooting 14-of-30 from the field (47 percent) in the second half while holding the Eagles to 8-of 28 shooting (29 percent). The Eagles and Dolphins combined for 13 ties and 14 lead changes in the game.
Leading 46-44 with more than six minutes remaining, the Eagles gave up a 5-0 run to the Dolphins and Jacksonville would take the lead for good Desarae Johnson capped the run with a layup with 5:07 left. FGCU tied the game with 1:10 left in regulation after De La Torre (Las Cruces, N.M.) drove to the basket and dropped in a layup. Jacksonville used a 4-0 run and held the Eagles scoreless in the final 1:10 to wrap-up the victory.
As a team, the Eagles connected on 21-of-56 (37.5-percent) shots from the field, including 7-of-20 (35.0-percent) from long-distance. De La Torre finished the game 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from the field while pulling down a team-high seven rebounds. Dermyer (Fort Collins, Col.) ended the contest 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from the field and 2-of-4 (50 percent) from behind the arc.
Ashley Williams finished 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) from the floor while also grabbing a game-high eight rebounds and three blocks. Virginia Gregoire finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Jacksonville got on the Eagles early by jumping out to a 20-14 lead with 9:33 left to play in the opening half. FGCU responded with a 17-6 run, that was capped by a Delia De La Torre (Las Cruces, N.M) jumper, over the final nine minutes of the first half and took a 31-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Eagles will take the court to face North Florida on Monday, Jan. 7 at the UNF Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen live online at ASun.TV.
Notes:
- Freshman Bri Zabel made her collegiate debut and scored five points and grabbed two boards in 16 minutes.
