LAKELAND, Fla. (January 31, 2009) –
Rollins started the second half of the conference season on a sour
note, falling to Florida Southern 78-69 in the road Saturday
evening.
The loss drops the 11th ranked Tars to 17-2 overall and 7-2 in
Sunshine State Conference play while the Mocs improve to 14-5,
5-4.
Jessica
Pressley led three Tars in double-figures with 14 points, 11 of
which came in the second half. Jasmine
Bradley added 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench with
Erin
Kirkwood netting 11 and snaring five rebounds.
Chelsea Johnson was 8-for-13 from beyond the arc to lead FSC and
all scorers with 37 points. Tanja Speaker chipped in 17 points and
Emer Foley added 11.
Rollins shot 21-22 (95 percent) from the free throw line, but
struggled from the field, hitting 21-for-54 (38 percent). The host
Mocs were equally impressive from the stripe, shooting 15-for-18
(83 percent) while also going 25-for-58 from the floor.
The Tars earned a huge 41-25 edge on the boards, but committed
25 turnovers to 18 from FSC.
Pressley hit a trey to start the game for Rollins, but FSC
answered as the teams traded the lead five times over the first 12
minutes. The Mocs rolled up a 10-4 run to take a 30-24 lead with
five minutes left, only to have Rollins battle back to knot the
score a 30 with 2:19 left in the period. Speaker and Johnson each
hit a three for the Mocs to end the half, putting the teams to the
locker room with FSC leading 36-30.
After the Mocs pushed the lead to 11, Rollins battled back and
got to within five, 41-36, with 16:30 left behind solid shooting
from Brittainy
Daiger and Ines
Teuma. That would be as close as Rollins would get, however as
the Tars went cold from the field and the Mocs heated up, pushing
their advantage to 13 with less than a minute to play.
Rollins will return home on Wednesday, February 4, hosting Saint
Leo at 5:30 p.m. Fans can catch all the action live on the Citizens
Bank of Florida Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.
