Warner outscored Keiser 22-6 in the second quarter in a 68-55 win on Saturday.
LAKE WALES — Warming up before the second half on Saturday, the Warner University women’s basketball team made a shot — then another and then a third.
The three balls stuck in the net.
It was fitting considering what they did to Keiser during the second quarter. Trailing by one point, the Royals opened the quarter with a 12-3 spurt. Keiser scored to snap the streak, but Warner answered with a 10-0 run to end the half.
The result was a 15-point lead, and the Royals never trailed again as they held off the last-place Seahawks late for a 68-55 win in front of a sparse crowd at the Turner Athletic Center.
“All we want to do is get better,” said Warner head coach Joe Sanchez. “We’re getting better game by game, by game. We’re there and it’s just a matter of finishing the fourth quarter and making some shots.”
The Royals’ (9-10, 2-7 TSC) big second quarter came with their leading scorer, I’munique Green, on the bench due to early foul trouble. Sara Poehlman picked up the slack, hitting three-straight triples to fuel the early 12-3 run.
Cierra Wilson provided a spark with five assists and non-stop energy on both ends of the court. Keiser’s 17 turnovers led to 13 points for Warner. The Seahawks (4-16, 1-8 TSC), who hit 7 of 9 shots in the first quarter, missed on 10 of their 12 attempts in the second.
“We have to rely on that,” Sanchez said of the defense.
Wilson finished with eight points and seven assists, while Green added 14 points.
“Second quarter means everything to us,” said Poehlman, who scored 14 points. “We’re a first-half team. Our last couple games we’ve lost fourth quarters, so, for us to come out on top meant a lot. For us to get that momentum meant a lot.”
The Royals’ nasty habit of letting opposing teams claw back into the game reared its ugly head again on Saturday.
Trailing by 14 points after three quarters, Keiser finally found its groove in the fourth. The Seahawks scored 12 of the first 17 points, cutting the Royals’ big lead down to 58-51 after a pair of jumpers by Kyrah James.
Kashari James stymied the Seahawks’ run as her shot-clock beating jumper with 3:03 to play made it 60-51. It was the Royals’ final made field goal of the night.
“Once our opposing team gets momentum and is excited, we kind of shut down and we let them take over the game," Poehlman said. "I feel like, for us to stay on top really helped us today.”