WINTER PARK, Fla. (December 28, 2008) – Jessica
Pressley scored 15 points and dished out five assists to lead
19th ranked Rollins to a 68-62 win over Fort Valley State in the
opening game of the RollinsSportsStore.com Challenge, Sunday.
The Tars improve to 9-0 on the year while the Wildcats drop to
4-3.
Pressley was 3-11 from beyond the arc and 4-5 from the charity
stripe on the night. Rachael
Malatesta added 12 points with Jasmine
Bradley chipping in eight. Rollins earned a 54-44 advantage on
the glass and was led by Brittainy
Daiger and Ines
Teuma with 13 and 12 rebounds, respectively.
Takesha Riggs netted 17 to lead Fort Valley State and all
scorers. Shekiya Tarpkins added nine points and seven rebounds with
Amma Bem-Oko also scoring nine.
The contest was a low scoring affair at the beginning with
Rollins taking a 10-5 lead seven minutes in. A put back by Kendra
Evans sparked a 15-0 Fort Valley run that put the visitors ahead
20-10 midway through the period. Pressley got the Tars back on
track with a trey and Rollins began to grind away, eventually
pulling even 32-32 with two minutes left. A late jumper by Takesha
Riggs put the Wildcats back on top and gave them a 36-34 lead at
the break.
Fort Valley held the lead through much of the second half until
a Pressley long ball gave the Tars a 49-48 advantage with 10:54 to
go. The Rollins lead would grow to as much as eight with four
minutes left before Fort Valley came charging back in the final
minutes. Jasmine Birdsong connected on a 3-pointer with 35 ticks
left to cut the lead to three, 65-62. Paris
Moore split a pair of free throws for the Tars on the other end
to make it a four point game and the defense tightened up down the
stretch to keep Rollins perfect on the season.
Florida Tech was a 68-65 winner over Albany State in the
tournaments other game Sunday.
The Tars will battle Albany State at 1 p.m. Monday to kick off
day two of the RollinsSportsStore.com Challenge. Florida Tech will
then take on Fort Valley State at 3 p.m. to conclude the
tournament.
Fans can catch all the action live on the Citizens Bank of
Florida Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.
