ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (January 12, 2019) – Playing a second road game in four days, Rollins offense was sluggish at the start and couldn't find a grove as the Tars lost to Eckerd 75-52 Saturday afternoon.
Carly McLendon led the Tars with 13 points, five rebounds and four blocks. Tianna Rosser had a breakout game with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while also grabbing six rebounds. Jaylyn Harrison added nine points and Denise Daniels pulled in seven rebounds.
Rollins drops to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in Sunshine State Conference play.
Eckerd (10-3, 5-2 SSC) saw Octavia Loll, Yarden Danan, and Zoe Richards each score 13 points.
The Tars were held to 38 percent shooting on the day, just 3-of-12 from long range. The Tritons hit 42 percent from the floor and shot 20-of-27 at the line while Rollins went 7-of-9. EC committed 10 turnovers to 20 from Rollins. The Tars won the battle on the glass, 38-32.
Denise Daniels hit a jumper on the Tars first possession and two minutes later EC got on the board with a Loll three-pointer. Eckerd then outscored the Tars 8-1 the next three minutes until consecutive Rosser layups got Rollins to within 11-7. Eckerd then closed the half with four-straight points to put the Tars down 15-7 after one.
Both offenses heated up in the second, but Rollins was unable to gain any ground and fell into a 39-20 hole at intermission.
The third quarter was a free throw contest as Rollins went 5-of-6 and Eckerd 8-of-10 in the frame. A Harrison three-pointer with 3:28 in the quarter pulled Rollins to within 51-33. Despite holding EC without a field goal for the final 4:51, the Tars still trailed 56-36 heading into the fourth.
Rollins continued to keep Eckerd from scoring a field goal to start the fourth and cut the lead to 58-47 after a Vernisha Andrews bucket with 5:28 left. The Tars offense then hit a wall and EC, after nearly 10 full clock minutes, hit from the field and put Rollins down 68-47 with 3:16 to go. Rollins would get no closer than 18 the rest of the way.
The Tars are off for a week before meeting SSC leader Florida Southern at home on Saturday, January 19. Tip off is set for 2 p.m. at Warden Arena. Fans can catch the action live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5 FM WPRK.
