FMU Women Up For Daunting Task Saturday At No. 1 Southeastern University

AT A GLANCE
FMU Lions (11-11, 6-6) at No. 1 Southeastern University Fire (20-2, 12-0)
When: Saturday, February 1, 2020
Where: Southeastern University, Lakeland, Fla.| The Furnace
Tip-off: 5 p.m.
Last Meeting: Jan. 4, 2020, Loss 35-91
Live Stream Video & Stats: https://team1sports.com/southeasternfire/

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Florida Memorial University's women will be faced with the daunting task of trying to topple the nation's No. 1 team, on their home floor no less, when they travel to Lakeland, Florida to take on Southeastern University Saturday afternoon.

Saturday will be the second meeting between the Lady Lions (11-11, 6-6 Sun Conference) and the Fire (20-2, 12-0). The first meeting (on Jan. 4) had very little positive for FMU, as it scored a season-low 35 points and suffered its worst defeat of the season.

Florida Memorial will enter the matchup riding high thanks to its 66-64 come-from-behind victory over Ave Maria University this past Thursday. The Lady Lions rallied from a 12-point third-quarter deficit and secured their victory thanks to a go-ahead layup by Airneisha Gamble with 11 seconds left. It was also a game in where FMU got tangible contributions from every player that entered the game – something that head coach Gregory Stanback has wanted to see from his squad over the past few weeks.

Southeastern University is well-deserving of its No. 1 ranking, however. The Fire are currently on a 19-game winning streak and they've only had one game in that span in which their margin of victory was under 13 points – a 94-90 overtime win over Ferris State University back in December. Also, Southeastern has won its past three games – all against Sun Conference opponents – by an average of 52 points and held each to 43, 47, and 44 points respectively.

A successful upset bid for the Lions will mean that they got outstanding performances from leading scorers Isis Lane and Gamble – who's scored 10 or more points in six straight games – but it will also mean another night with multiple players contributing. FMU welcomed guard Shawnice King back to the lineup this past Thursday from her ankle injury and even she was able to make a couple of critical plays in key moments despite her being on a minute's restriction.

Stanback said he's aware of the "bigness" of the task of upending the country's top-ranked team, but feels his team is equipped to do it.

"You look at the way our last game against [Southeastern] went," Stanback began. "And it was not good at all. But I do feel like we match up well with them from a personnel standpoint. We're going in there with the mindset that we can this game."