ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -  The Palm Beach Atlantic women's basketball team was looking for consecutive Sunshine State Conference wins after defeating Lynn on Wednesday, but the Sailfish fell at Eckerd 102-53 this afternoon. The Sailfish began the second half of their SSC schedule today after going 1-9 in the first meetings against conference opponents including an 88-59 home defeat against the Tritons. The Sailfish are now 3-15 while the Tritons are 13-4 and in second place in the SSC standings.

In the previous matchup between the two sides this season on Nov. 23, the Tritons punished the Sailfish defense from behind the arc going 13-of-26 from three. Today's game started in a similar fashion as Eckerd started the game on a 9-0 run on 3-of-3 shooting from the three-point line and they would keep the lead throughout the contest. Sia Williams tried to keep the 'Fish in the game scoring seven of the teams fifteen points in the first quarter. PBA shot 4-of-13 from the floor in the quarter and committed six turnovers while the Tritons hit five threes and were 10-of-18 overall from the field. 

After losing the first quarter 29-15 the Sailfish defense continued to be unable to contain the Triton offense. Eneritz Larranaga scored 18 first-half points to pace the Eckerd high powered attack. The Sailfish tried to keep their opponents off balance by switching between man and zone defense but it was of no consequence as the Tritons shot 57 percent in the half and were 10-19 from three. Sia Williams, Claire Bady, and Avree Carpenter combined to score all 19 points in the second quarter for the Sailfish but as a team they shot just 40 percent and gave away 14 turnovers in the half. Eckerd was on a 14-0 run at the end of the second quarter before the Sailfish hit two late threes to go into the half trailing 57-34.

The Sailfish remained unable to keep up with the Tritons in the second half as they were outscored 45-19. Eckerd had four players reach double digits as Larranaga led the way with a career-high 25 points on 10-12 shooting. Despite the deficit, Sia Williams played one of her better games of the season scoring 20 points after going 9-of-10 from the line. Avree Carpenter was the other PBA member to reach double digits as she shot 4-of-11 from the floor and finished with 11 points. Eckerd finished with 13 threes for the second time in a game this season against the Sailfish while finished shooting 59 percent from the field. The Sailfish finished the game at 31 percent and were 7-of-18 from behind the arc. 

The Sailfish will look forward to returning to Rubin Arena where they have picked up all of their wins this season when they host Florida Tech on Jan. 29. The Sailfish will be looking for revenge as the previous matchup in Melbourne went down to the final seconds, but the Panthers prevailed 64-60.