WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 19, 2022) - Rollins and Embry-Riddle went back and forth until literally the last second when a tip-in gave the Eagles a 48-46 conference win. Rollins drops to 2-2 on the year (0-1 SSC), while Embry-Riddle stays undefeated at 3-0 (1-0 SSC).
Rollins looked like a different team compared to Wednesday, as they came out firing in the first quarter, scoring the first two baskets of the game courtesy of
Lucy Leen and
Maria Atanassov-Tomas. After ERAU took the lead on back-to-back threes, Rollins responded with a pair of bombs as well to go up 10-6. A three-minute stretch ensued where neither team changed the scoreboard, until Rachel Murray hit a jumper for the Eagles. The Rollins response was for
Claire Erickson,
Silvia Lasarte,
Erin Leigh and
Grace Alfieri to all score in the last two minutes to give them a 19-12 lead at the first horn.
Embry-Riddle won the second quarter, and went into halftime with a 23-21 lead.
Kymora Westerfield got the second half started right with a nice three, followed by a breakaway layup from Alfieri. The two teams would tie each other up five times in the third quarter as the back-and-forth battle continued. Rollins finished the quarter with the momentum as Lasarte collected an offensive rebound and laid it back in with one second on the clock, putting Rollins up 36-33 after three. The Tars held te Eagles to ten points in the quarter.
Leen got hot in the fourth, connecting on two threes to start things off. However, Embry-Riddle was right there to respond with two of their own, plus a Murray jumper to stay close at 42-41. This time, it was a four-minute point drought on both sides as the two teams played tenacious defense. Murray hit a three to put the Eagles up 46-44 with 1:45 to go, but Aaliya Irizarry-Perez was able to counter with a mid-range jumper with 31 seconds left to tie the score. On the final possession, the Eagles missed a pull-up jumper, but Jenna Teterycz was able to tip in the rebound with 0.8 seconds left to make it 48-46. Rollins had one final chance to score, but turned the ball over on the inbounds play.
Leen led the team in scoring with 13, including three makes from distance. Tomas had five points and a team-high seven rebounds. Murray led all scorers with 17 points for the Eagles.
Next up for Rollins is the annual Thanksgiving Invitational. This year, Minnesota State-Moorhead, Lincoln, and Holy Family will suit up in Warden Arena next Friday and Saturday. Rollins will face MSU-Moorhead on Friday at 2:00 pm.
