WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 25, 2009) –
What looked like a rout early turned into a sprint to the finish as
22nd ranked Rollins downed Palm Beach Atlantic 66-53 Wednesday. The
Tars were up by as much as 24 early in the second half, but had to
use some key shots down the stretch to hold on for the win.
The Tars (22-4) will head into their regular season finale at
Eckerd on Saturday tied with Tampa atop the Sunshine State
Conference standings. The Spartans beat Florida Southern Wednesday
to move even with Rollins and will play at Lynn Saturday.
Rollins was led by Jessica
Pressley with 20 points, behind a 6-for-7 night beyond the arc.
Ines
Teuma added 12 points and six rebounds while Paris
Moore chipped in nine points and a career high nine
assists.
Chanell Byrd netted 16 points for the Sailfish (11-16) while
Melissa Perez and Selethia Jackson each added 14. Kristine Webb was
held scoreless, but pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Rollins shot 45 percent (28-of-68) on the night and 47 percent
(10-of-21) from the 3-point line. PBA hit 34 percent (21-of-61)
from the floor and out rebounded Rollins 39-34.
After celebrating the careers of seniors Erin
Kirkwood, Rachael
Malatesta, Wideline
Seraphin and Ines
Teuma, pregame, the first half belonged to Rollins. Three
pointers by Pressley, Moore and Malatesta sparked the Tars opening
13-0 run over the first four minutes.
PBA cut the lead to nine later in the frame, but jumpers by
Kirkwood and Seraphin, followed by back-to-back triples from
Pressley, put the Tars up 30-11 with 7:19 to go in the half. The
Tars pushed their advantage to as much as 22 before a Loren Wilkins
trey at the end of the half sent the teams to the locker room with
the Tars up 41-22.
Rollins held a 50-26 advantage after the first five minutes of
the second half, but PBA started to chip away and pulled to within
10, 59-49 with under five minutes to play. Jackson connected on a
pair of free throws, then after a Rollins miss, hit a layup to cut
the Tars lead to six, 59-53. Pressley then stepped up and drained a
long distance 3-pointer to get the Tars back on track, followed by
key buckets from Teuma and Kirkwood.
Rollins will be looking for at least a share of their 12th
Sunshine State Conference championship when they travel to St.
Petersburg to face Eckerd on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tip-off is slated
for 2 p.m. Fans can catch all the action live on the Citizens Bank
of Florida Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com.
