Rollins Stumbles at Tampa

Rollins

57 -

71

Tampa

Box Score

TAMPA, Fla. (January 23, 2016) - The Tars just could never get it going offensively on Saturday, falling to Tampa on the road, 71-57, to split the season series at a win apiece. Rollins still owns the all-time series, 43-21.

With the loss, the Tars fall to 8-9 and 4-5 in the conference while the Spartans improve to 11-8 and 5-4 in the SSC.

Rollins shot 35 percent from the field (23-65) while Tampa shot better than 54 percent, including 9-24 from beyond the arc.

Sophomore Julia Ingler led the Tars with 13 points in the losing effort while Vernisha Andrews and Tanaya Jones each finished with eight.

For the Spartans, Juliana Cavallaro and Elena de Alfredo each scored 15 with Candace Martino (11 points) and Ellen Nurmi (10 points) also finishing in double figures. de Alfredo also recorded 10 rebounds and seven assists.

The Tars started slow offensively as Marie Gilbert hit Rollins' first field goal at the 6:57 mark of the first, hitting a three to tie the game at 4-4.

Tampa followed the Gilbert bucket with five unanswered before back-to-back Rollins triples gave the Tars their first lead, 10-9, with 4:03 left in the quarter.

Rollins would eventually head to the second down one, 15-14. Ingler and Jen Farrell led the Tars in the first with five points each.

The Spartans would open the second with seven straight to take their biggest lead of the game at 22-14, forcing a Rollins timeout at the 6:44 mark.

Jasmine Stone would finally get the Tars' first bucket of the second with six minutes on the clock, sparking a 4-0 spurt, cutting the deficit back to four.

The Rollins deficit would grow to as much as nine before heading into intermission down seven, 34-27.

Ingler led all scorers in the first half with 10 points on 3-8 shooting while Farrell chipped in five off the bench. Gilbert and Ingler both grabbed four rebounds. Three players scored six for the Spartans in the half.

Tampa would push their lead to 16 at the 3:44 mark of third quarter at 49-33, as the Tars started the half 2-8 from the field.

A Rollins scoring drought that lasted over three minutes led to a deficit of 20 with 1:49 left in the third.

The Spartans would extend their lead to 23 heading to the forth before ultimately taking the game by a final score of 71-57.

The Tars will take a week off before hosting Embry-Riddle next Saturday, January 30^th at 2 p.m. Fans that cant make it to the game, can watch all the action live on the Gieco Tars Sports Network at RollinsSp