LAKELAND, Fla. (January 9, 2021) – In what was a battle of two of the top three teams in The Sun Conference standings, the Webber International University women's basketball team fell against No. 16 nationally-ranked Southeastern University 75-51 in what was also the TSC Women's Basketball Game of the Week.

Webber led 2-0 after a steal and a layup by LeAndra Franklin on the very first possession of the game, but then trailed 7-2.

Then, after a jumper by Rushell Jacob followed by a layup by Paris Copeland made it 7-6, the Fire proceeded to go on a huge 18-0 run to lead it by 19 at 25-6 with only two minutes left in the opening quarter.

That big run by Southeastern was finally stopped by two free throws from Paulette Burke to make the score 25-8 after one quarter. Webber shot only 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from the field and was 0-for-5 from three in the quarter while Southeastern shot 50 percent or better both from the field and from three.

Webber then started the second quarter with another basket by Jacob to make it 25-10, but from there, back-to-back 3-pointers by the Fire were the beginning of a 12-0 run for Southeastern to make it 37-10 with 5:08 left before halftime.

A 3-pointer by Selena Rodriguez stopped that run for the Fire, and then a three by Copeland made it 39-16 with 4:17 left in the half before Webber faced its largest deficit of the half, a 31-point margin at 47-16, during the final minute before halftime.

A layup by Rodrguez made it 47-18 at the break, but Southeastern shot 60 percent from the field and was 2-for-2 from three in the second quarter. In all for the first half, the Fire held a 17-2 advantage on points off turnovers, and led it 10-0 on second chance points.

In the third quarter, the Warriors outscored the Fire 19-17 and had six steals on 13 Southeastern turnovers, and then in the fourth quarter, Webber outscored Southeastern 14-11 after holding the Fire to 4-for-13 shooting in the period. In all, Southeastern would finish the game with 28 turnovers.

Head Coach Grady Morrell said, "We won the second half, so we showed a lot of heart, and now we know what we need to do going forward."

For the Warriors, Eletra Graham had nine points, Rodriguez finished with a career-high eight points while Copeland also added eight points and Burke had a career-best seven points.

The loss for Webber (9-4 overall, 5-3 The Sun Conference) was also the first loss on the road so far this season for the Warriors (6-1 on the road), while Southeastern (10-2, 8-0) remained undefeated at home at 7-0.

The Warriors will now return home to the Sabbagh Athletic Center as Webber hosts Ave Maria at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 14.