Lady Lions Hope To Topple Webber International In TSC Tourney Opening Round

AT A GLANCE
FMU Lions (10-10) at Webber International University Warriors (16-9)
When: Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Where: Webber International, Babson Park, Fla. | Sabbagh Athletic Center
Tip-off: 6 p.m.
Last Meeting: Jan. 28, 2021, Loss 55-68
Live Stream: Link
Live Stats: Link

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – At the start of the 2020-21 season, Florida Memorial University head women's basketball coach Gregory Stanback felt he built a team that could not only compete for, but potentially win a conference championship.

His team will start its path to a Sun Conference Tournament title when the 6-seed Lady Lions travel take on 3-seed Webber International University in the Sabbagh Athletic Center Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

Webber International will be allowing a reduced number of fans to attend Tuesday's game, but it is limited to their home fans and permitted guests. The game, however, will be streamed live online and can be viewed free of charge.

Florida Memorial (10-10) comes into the postseason riding high from its 60-53 win over rival St. Thomas University in its regular season finale. The Lions, who played in front of a live home crowd for the first time this season this past Saturday, had four players score in double figures and built as large as a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter before cruising into the final 7-point margin.

Keaynna Tolbert, the Sun Conference's overall leading scorer this season, returned to the lineup – after missing the previous two games with an upper extremity injury – Saturday against the Bobcats. Her timing wasn't at the level it was previously, but she still led the Lions in scoring with 18 points while also grabbing 8 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists, and nabbing 2 steals.

Senior Anjelie Tirone, who the team honored pregame for Senior Day as it was the final regular season home game, had a double-double of 10 points and 12 boards while Heather Durand finished with 16 points and Chantel Barnett chipped in with 12.

Saturday's game will be the third time that the Lady Lions take on Webber International this season. Florida Memorial lost the first meeting on its home floor back in December 86-83 as it rallied back and erased a 21-point second-half deficit and trailed by a single point before falling by the final narrow margin. The Warriors took the second meeting in January 68-55 even though Tolbert went off for 28 points as FMU was a shorthanded squad.

In both games, Tolbert was a productive and fairly proficient scorer. She totaled 52 points and was able to get to the free throw line 24 times – knocking down 13. Where Tolbert could stand to tighten the screws is with her ball security, as she's turned the ball over 14 times in two games against Webber.

A good portion of Coach Stanback's defensive game plan will likely be centered around slowing down Warriors guard Amaya Small. The 5-foot-8 junior has averaged a double-double against the Lions – 19 points and 10 rebounds – in two games.

Rebounding was an issue for FMU in the first meeting between the teams (losing the rebound battle 56-37) and while the Lions won the rebound battle in the second meeting, they shot just 31 percent from the field and 6 percent from three-point range which led to their lopsided loss.

Success Tuesday will mean a complete and clean performance from the Lions – one with a limited number of turnovers, shooting at a solid clip, and playing the pressuring defense it has when it has earned victories this season.

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