KISSIMMEE, Fla. (March 10, 2013) - Senior Tera
McDaniel turned in an MVP performance and led Rollins to its
second-straight Sunshine State Conference Championship as the Tars
beat Saint Leo 74-59 at Silver Spurs Arena on Sunday.
The tournament title is the eighth in Rollins (21-8) history and
comes with an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II South Region
Tournament. The selection show is slated for 10 p.m. Sunday, March
10 on NCAA.com. The Tars are also the defending champions of that
event.
The Tars now total 21 SSC regular season and tournament
championships.
Along with McDaniel, Ashley
Jones and Ashley
Losch were named to the All-Tournament team.
Jones led the offense with 13 points while McDaniel posted 12
points, four rebounds and four assists. Emmalee
Schill added 12 points and six rebounds with Sarah
Blackburn tallying 10 points and nine boards.
Teresa Manigrasso paced Saint Leo (14-15) with 18 points Kinara
Lewis scored 17 with Chelsea Connelly putting up nine points and 13
rebounds.
The Lions scored the first five points of the game, but Rollins
took control early and led 24-13 after the first 11 minutes.
Rollins led by as many as 15 with 2:44 left in the half before a
late Leo run pulled them to within 37-31 at the break.
Rollins was up 39-38 at the 16:03 mark, and then began to pull
away and led 56-46 after a Losch free throw with 9:30 left. Leo
would not get any closer than five the rest of the way.
Rollins shot 38 percent while Saint Leo hit 41 percent from the
field. The Tars won the rebounding battle 38-34 and committed just
seven turnovers while forcing 18.
The win marks the second time Rollins has won back-to-back
championships also getting two in a row in 2004-05.
Check RollinsSports.com Sunday evening for the Tars match-up in
the NCAA Tournament.
