BOCA RATON, Fla. (March 4, 2007) ' The Rollins
College women's basketball team was defeated by the Tampa Spartans
in overtime, 68-66. The Tars (24-6) were seeking their seventh
tournament championship and third title in the last four years.
Last season, the Tars advanced to the championship game as well,
but were turned back by Tampa, 56-47.
In her final Sunshine State Conference Tournament appearance,
senior forward Larissa McDonough went out with a bang, notching a
double-double of 20 points and 12 boards. Guard Jessica Barker
tallied a career-high 14 points with two steals going 80 percent
from the free throw line. Junior guard Jennifer Musgrove totaled 13
points with five assists and eight rebounds.
Early in the first half, McDonough found herself in trouble with
three fouls, and Musgrove was able to step up with the hot hand.
'With Larissa on the bench, someone had to step up and score, so I
rose to the challenge,' Musgrove said. 'Larissa is such a leader on
this team and I am so proud of my teammates and coaches for their
efforts.'
Going into this match-up, the Tars and Spartans split their
regular season games with Rollins winning on the road 55-43 on
December 2, and Tampa winning on Rollins home turf 60-54 on
February 7.
With five minutes remaining in the first stanza, the Spartans
built a convincing 12 point lead over the No. 1 seeded Tars.
Baskets by McDonough, Musgrove, freshman guard Staci Rossi and
forward Rachael Workman closed the gap to four at the halftime
buzzer, 29-25.
In the second period, the Tars' offense came out firing and with
five minutes left in the game, two free throws by McDonough gave
Rollins a two point lead. Tampa and Rollins traded buckets for the
remainder of the half and with 55 seconds left in the game, guard
Jennifer Dyer knocked down a three to send the game to
overtime.
It was all Tampa (22-7) in overtime until the 15 second mark
when Rollins tied Tampa with a three point bucket from Musgrove.
With time expiring on the clock, guard DeShaydia Mackey hit a
fade-away jumper to seal the Spartans second straight SSC
Championship Final and third overall title.
McDonough who scored a double-double in her final SSC contest
was visibly upset by her team's loss in the finals. 'Scoring a
double-double is nice, but it would never compare to winning a SSC
Tournament title.'
Both Musgrove and McDonough were named to the Conference
All-Tournament Team.'I am very proud of this team,' Coach Glenn
Wilkes said. 'Our team goal all along was to win the SSC regular
season title, and we did that. A Tournament win would have just
been dessert for us.'
The Tars will anxiously await this evening's selection show
which will be held at 10:30 p.m. on the NCAA website. Log onto www.ncaasports.com/dii to
follow the selection show live to see which SSC teams will be
moving on to the NCAA South Region Tournament.
