LAKELAND, Fla. (March 2, 2019) – Rollins was unable to spoil Florida Southern's senior day as the Tars dropped a 72-60 decision to the 19th-ranked Mocs on Saturday.
Rollins (11-15) finished 8-12 in the Sunshine State Conference and will be the seven-seed in the SSC Tournament. The Tars drew second-seed Tampa and visit the host Spartans on Wednesday, March 6 in the quarterfinals.
Carly McLendon led Rollins with 14 points, 12 rebounds; the senior's seventh double-double of the season. She also added four blocks to finish the regular season as the SSC leader with 61, 22 more than the next best shot blocker.
Tianna Rosser added 11 points and eight rebounds with Rachel Lia scoring 10 off the bench.
Camille Giardina scored 22 to lead Florida Southern (25-3, 18-2 SSC) who had already wrapped up the SSC regular season title. Anja Fuchs-Robetin added 21.
Rollins found itself down 14-9 in the waning moments of the first quarter before a Rosser layup and Jaylyn Harrison three-pointer pulled the Tars event 14-14 after one.
The Mocs started the second on a 10-0 run and later led 30-18 at the midway point of the frame. A pair of Vernisha Andrews free throws sparked an 11-0 Rollins run that got Rollins to within 30-29 with 2:09 left in the first half. Harrison provided five points during the spurt.
Florida Southern grabbed a 36-32 lead at the half.
Rachel Jablonski scored on the first possession of the third quarter to make it a two point game but FSC scored the next six points to put the Tars down 42-34.
Lia pulled Rollins to within 46-42 at the 3:15 mark of the third before Southern ran off an 8-0 run and seized control, 54-42.
Rollins trailed 57-45 heading into the fourth.
Florida Southern would go on to lead by as many as 17 (68-51) in the fourth with Rollins getting no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Rollins and Tampa will tip off at 7 p.m. in the Martinez Center to start the post season. UT won both match-ups in the regular season, 55-44 in Tampa and 67-50 in Winter Park. Fans can catch the action live on the Tars Sports Network at RollinsSports.com and locally on 91.5 FM WPRK.
