Women's Basketball | 2/11/2004 7:29:00 PM

Box Score FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Barry University women's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker falling to the Nova Southeastern Knights 55-53 earlier tonight.

The Buccaneers (12-11) led earlier at the 17:06 mark after hitting three back-to-back three pointers to start the game. The Bucs maintained the lead heading into the half 32-30.

In the second half, the Knights (9-13) tied the game at 32 apiece to get start the second period. The lead exchanged hands several times until Nova's Marvelous Washington hit a layup with 6:49 left to play giving the Knights a 48-47 advantage. The Bucs tried to fight back, but Eva Rojo's late three-point attempt was no good as the Bucs fell 53-55 in the final.

Barry's standout freshman Karla Mast led the Bucs with 18 points hitting 7 of 13 from the field and 3 of 6 from three point range. Yashica Nesbit and Sanja Zivanovic each added 11 points. Senior Yojana Rodriguez led the Bucs with nine rebounds.

Washington led all Nova scorers with 17 points, while Kiara Wallace and Jennifer Havens each added 12 and 10 points respectively. Nova's Jessica Pate also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Buccaneers will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 14 facing off with SSC foe Saint Leo at 2 pm, which will be televised on the Sunshine Network as a tape delay.