TAMPA, Fla. (January 4, 2014) - Free throw
shooting down the stretch proved to be the difference as
16th-ranked Rollins beat Tampa 59-58 on the road
Saturday.
The victory evened the Tars Sunshine State Conference record at
1-1 and moves them to 11-2 overall. The Spartans fall to 7-4, 1-1
SSC.
Emmalee
Schill led the Tars with 15 points and eight rebounds. She was
5-of-9 from the field, including two clutch second half 3-pointers,
and hit all three free throw attempts. Tanaya
Jones added a career-high 13 points and five assists while Ashley
Losch netted 10 off the bench.
Shamika Williams paced UT with 16 points while Taylor McVey
added 11 points and 12 rebounds.
A back-and-forth battle throughout, the game saw 10 ties and
eight lead changes.
The SSC's top two defensive teams engaged in a slugfest to start
as it took nearly 10 minutes for either team to crack
double-digits. A pair of Schill free throws knotted the score at 15
with 7:51 left in the half. Tampa regained the lead before
back-to-back Losch scores gave the Tars a 19-17 lead at the 6:18
mark.
Tampa then outscored the Tars 12-4 the rest of the half,
including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and put Rollins down 29-23 at
the break.
Rollins came out of the locker room strong and started the
second on a 13-1 run, taking a 36-30 lead with 13:15 to play. They
held UT without a field goal for the first eight minutes of the
frame, but two free throws and back-to-back triples put Tampa back
on top 38-36 at the 11:55 mark.
Trailing by five with six minutes to play, Schill hit a jumper
and drilled a 3-pointer on the next possession to knot the score at
50. Tampa went back up by four with 3:12 to play before a Sarah
Blackburn jumper and Jones free throws evened the score at
55.
With UT leading by one, Taylor scored a 15-footer that swung the
advantage to the Tars, 57-56. The Spartans were then off the mark
on the next two possessions and Jones drew a foul, hitting 1-of-2
from the stripe that put the Tars up 58-56.
Taylor connected from the stripe and extended the lead to 59-56
with eight ticks left. Rollins fouled Williams to protect the
3-point line, putting the senior at the line with 1.8 seconds left.
She hit the first and intentionally missed the second. McVey
secured the rebound and was quickly fouled to give UT a final
chance to tie. She was injured on the play, however, so the
Spartans put Catherine Matthews at the line. She missed the first
and made the second to make it a 59-58 Tars lead.
Rollins then quickly inbounded and drained the rest of the
clock.
Rollins was 21-of-52 (40 percent) from the field and held Tampa
to 16-of-42 (38 percent). Both teams were 74 percent from the free
throw line.
The Tars earned a 34-28 edge in rebounding and forced 15
turnovers while committing 12.
Rollins will be on the road again Wednesday, Jan. 8, taking on
Florida Tech in Melbourne. Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m. Fans can
catch all the action live on the Tars Sports Network at
RollinsSports.com.
