WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 11, 2009) – The Rollins women's
basketball team held Florida Tech to only 10 points in the second
half as the Tars went on to defeat the Panthers 64-37, Wednesday
night in Warden Arena.
The 21st-ranked Tars remain undefeated at home and pick up their
second victory of the season against Florida Tech as they advance
to 19-3 and 9-3 in Sunshine State Conference action, while Florida
Tech drops to 15-7, 5-7 in conference play.
Junior guard Jessica
Pressley led the Tars with 10 points, shooting 2-of-5 from long
range and draining a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
Pressley was one of 11 players on the Rollins roster to contribute
to the 64 point total on the evening, with Ines
Teuma, Brittainy
Daiger, and Jasmine
Bradley contributing nine, eight and seven points. Freshman
fireball Paris
Moore contributed seven assists on the night to round out the
Tars offensive production.
Defensively, senior Erin
Kirkwood led the team in boards with a total of eight, as
Daiger and Teuma grabbed seven apiece.
The Panthers were led by guard Lynisha Nelson, who notched a
game-high 18 points on the evening, shooting 5-of-12 from the field
and 8-of-13 from the line.
Florida Tech jumped out to a quick six point lead at the start
of the first half, but the Tars answered back as Pressley drained
two from the free throw line and sank a long range basket just
thirty seconds after a Teuma lay-in to put Rollins in the lead. A
quick jumper by Nelson with 16:52 remaining in the period put the
Panthers in their final advantage of the game with a score of
8-7.
With 2:17 to go in the first period the Tars held a seven point
lead over Florida Tech. But much like their last contest against
the Panthers, Rollins' lead was whittled away in the waning minutes
when a foul was called on an attempted Nelson trey to put her at
the line where she drained all three shots with 1:13 to go.
As the seconds ticked down, a layup by Hagins pulled the
Panthers within two, and after a quick Rollins turnover Nelson
netted a jumper with 27 seconds remaining in the first half to
tie-up the game at 27.
Rollins came out of the break with all systems go as they held
the Panthers to just 10 points in second half action. The Tars
pulled out to a sizeable 23 point lead before the Panthers were
finally able to make a basket as Hagins found success on a lay-in
at the 8:18 mark.
Despite Hagins' attempt to stir up some Panther action, the
damage had already been done as Rollins continued to pull ahead,
holding as much as a 30 point lead with three minutes remaining in
the contest.
The Tars led in all areas of the court shooting 37 percent in
field goals and 30 percent from long range, while Tech was limited
to just 21 percent and five percent from beyond the arc. At the
line, the Tars dominated the Panthers as they out-shot their
conference foe 64 percent to Tech's 44.
Rollins will be back in action in the first part of a conference
double-header on Saturday, February 11, as they take on Nova
Southeastern at home. Tipoff against the Sharks is set for 2:00
p.m. Fans who can't make it to the game can catch all of the
action live on the Citizens Bank of Florida Tars Sports Network at
www.RollinsSports.com,
or locally on the radio on 91.5 WPRK.
