DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Palm Beach Atlantic women's basketball team faced off against Embry-Riddle tonight as the two sides did battle in an important game to potentially decide who gets into the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. PBA fell behind early on but stormed back in the second half to take the lead late in the fourth quarter before falling 74-66. The Sailfish are now 9-13 overall and 5-11 in SSC play.

After being quiet in recent games, Mariyah Fletcher came out of the gates strong tonight as she scored five points in the opening quarter. She was strong throughout the night as she finished with a game-high 18 points. Five different 'Fish scored in the opening ten minutes of play as PBA shot well early on. However, the Eagles were even better from the field as they were over 50 percent in the opening half, outscoring PBA 22-15 in the first quarter and 16-12 in the second to lead 38-27 at the break.

The Sailfish started to cut into the deficit in the third quarter as Fletcher scored six more in the quarter. The big spark came off the bench as Jillian Schenk knocked down two threes on her way to eight third-quarter points. With the starting backcourt of Darria Whitley and Kash Ayuso ineffective and banged up throughout the night, the Sailfish went deep into their bench and more of a scoring role fell to starting point guard Maria Benitez-Zayas who answered with 15 points on the night.

The Sailfish outscored the Eagles 20-16 in the third quarter and continued their success into the fourth as they battled all the way back from their early hole. A 7-0 run capped with a Alma Danielsson three with eight minutes left cut the home sides lead to two points. Kailey Kidwell hit a huge baseline jumper with four minutes left to give PBA its first lead of the night, 66-65. Embry-Riddle answered with a three to regain the lead and went on to outscore the 'Fish 9-2 down the stretch to escape with the eight-point victory.

The Sailfish now sit in the final eighth spot for the SSC Tournament with four games remaining. PBA will be looking for a win at Florida Tech on Saturday. PBA defeated the Panthers 70-65 earlier this season.