Tars Kick Off New Year Against Tampa

MATCH-UP:

Rollins (7-4, 2-2 SSC) vs. Tampa (8-3, 3-1 SSC)

WHERE:

Warden Arena - Winter Park, Fla.

WHEN:

Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - 5:30 p.m.

COVERAGE:

VIDEO/AUDIO: GEICO Tars Sports Network (RollinsSports.com) and 91.5 FM WPRK in Winter Park
Play-by-Play: Robert Segal, analysis Victor Anderson
WPRK Pregame/Halftime show with Austin David in studio

LIVE STATS: TarsStats.com

SET-UP:

Kicking off the New Year with a tough Sunshine State Conference matchup, the Rollins women's basketball team welcomes the University of Tampa to Warden Arena on Wednesday evening. The Tars are coming off of a 60-51 victory over Barry University to close out the 2016 portion of their season, building off of a sizeable first half lead to claim the SSC win. The Tars held the Bucs to just five points in the second quarter and led 32-15 at the break. Tianna Rosser poured in a career-high 19 points to lead the Tars, and added three rebound and three blocks. Marie Gilbert chipped in 14 points and six rebounds. Tampa enters into Wednesday's matchup on a three game win streak, and will see its first action of the New Year after last taking to the court on December 30 at Florida Southern. The Spartans took down the then-20^th ranked Moccasins by a final score of 64-57, handing Florida Southern their first loss of the season. Elena de Alfredo led the Spartans with 20 points, five rebounds, and went 9-16 from the field. The Tars are 53-41 in the all-time series against the Spartans.

TRACKING THE TARS:

Marie Gilbert leads Rollins and is 8^th in the SSC with 13.1 points per game, while also pulling in 4.4 rebounds a game. The senior is shooting 46 percent from the field and 84 percent at the free throw line. Julia Inlger has drained 23 three-pointers and scores 9.3 points a game while Jasmine Stone chips in 8.0 points a night. Carly McLendon is the only player to start all 11 games and averages 7.6 points and an SSC eighth-best 7.0 rebounds a game. She leads the conference and is 13th in the nation with 2.55 blocks per game. The Tars are averaging 68.2 points a game on offense, ranking fifth in the SSC, and are fifth in defense by allowing 61.3 a game. They lead the SSC in rebounding margin at +10.6 a game and make the most out of second chance opportunities, grabbing 17.2 offensive rebounds a game.

TRACKING THE SPARTANS:

Senior Elena de Alfredo leads Tampa with 15.5 points and 3.2 assists per game. Karma Jeremie leads the Spartans with 8.0 rebounds per game, and chips in 12.6 points per game, good for second best on the squad. Faith Sanders averages 11.4 points on the night, and pulls in an average of 5.0 boards per game. Tampa is sixth in the conference in scoring offense, averaging 66.8 points per contest while allowing a conference low 52.2 points from opposing teams.

NOTES:

Rollins is 53-41 all-time against the Spartans in a series dating back to 1975. The Tars dropped their last matchup against the Spartans, falling by a final score of 71-57 on January 23, 2016.

Carly McLendon is 13th in the nation with 2.55 blocks per game. She is tied with Marie Gilbert for 17^th in program history with 53. Her career .543 field goal percentage is seventh-best in Tars history.

Julia Ingler is 10^th all-time in Rollins three-point field goals made with 121, needing just one more to tie Amber Heistan for ninth.

Glenn Wilkes Jr. is 670-230 in his 31^st year leading the Tars; Tom Jessee, who is in his 15^th season with the Spartans, owns a career record of 286-133 through 14 seasons at UT, and an overall record of 456-222 in 22 total seasons.

NEXT:

Rollins is back at home on Saturday, January 7, when they host Palm Beach Atlantic in SSC action. Game time against the Sailfish is slated for 2 p.m. in Warden Arena. Fans can catch all the action live on the Geico Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5 FM WPRK.