Lions Face Tough Test, Welcome No. 15 Southeastern Saturday

AT A GLANCE
FMU Lions (7-8, 7-7) vs. No. 15 Southeastern University Fire (16-2, 14-0)
When: Saturday, January 30, 2021
Where: Florida Memorial, Miami Gardens, Fla. | FMU Wellness Center
Tip-off: 2 p.m.
Last Meeting: Dec. 12, 2020, Loss 54-88
Live Stream: Link
Live Stats: Link

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – While Florida Memorial University's women's basketball team won't be anywhere close to full strength this weekend, it will still be looking do something that no Sun Conference team has been able to do since 2016 – defeat Southeastern in the regular season – when it hosts the No. 15 Fire Saturday afternoon in the FMU Wellness Center.

Saturday is set to be a typical conference, women-men doubleheader, with the 2 p.m. women's game serving as the opener. Per University health and safety protocols, no fans will be allowed to attend the games inside the Lions' Den; but they will be able to view the game via a free online live stream.

FMU (7-8, 7-7 The Sun Conference) hobbles into the weekend after falling to Webber International University this past Thursday. Playing without Micah Cooper, Janae Markes, and the team's second-leading scorer Jamari Tillman for the second consecutive game, the Lions struggled to produce offense outside of what junior and Sun Conference No. 1 scorer Keaynna Tolbert provided.

Tolbert had 28 points and shot just over 50 percent from the field, but the rest of the Lions struggled to find any shooting touch – as the team shot 31 percent from the field as a whole and a season-low 7 percent (1-15) from behind the three-point line.

The shortened roster also forced FMU head Gregory Stanback to play many of his players extended minutes, including a full 40 minutes for Heather Durand, 38 for Unique Tate, and 36 for Tolbert.

In facing Southeastern, FMU will be taking on the team that has reigned supreme in the Sun Conference for the last half-decade. The Fire (16-2, 14-0) have won the TSC regular season conference championship the past five years and the TSC postseason tourney four out of the past five years and they've also made runs into the NAIA national tournament during that span.

In the first meeting between the teams this season, Florida Memorial played Southeastern even through the first quarter – a 19-19 tie – before the Fire pulled away and handed the Lions their biggest margin of defeat this season.

Tolbert, who is playing through a minor upper extremity injury, will be looking to extend her streak of games scoring 20 points or more to five Saturday – increasing her output of 9 points from the first meeting against Fire.

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