WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (December 2, 2023) - Women's basketball earned their second straight Sunshine State Conference win on Saturday, playing tenacious defense in a 65-50 romp of the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish. The Tars now stand at 303, 2-0 SSC while the Sailfish fall to 3-4, 0-2 SSC.
Rollins could not have asked for a worse start to the game as they fell behind 10-0 in the first four minutes of the game. An
Aaliyah Irizarry-Perez layup snapped the streak, but soon Rollins found themselves down 18-4. Undaunted, the Tars went on a 10-0 run to end the quarter, highlighted by a three-point play from
Grace Alfieri to make the score 18-14.
The run would continue into the second quarter as
Kaitlyn Sanders and
Maddie Dillinger scored on the first two possessions to give Rollins a 19-18 lead. The two teams would trade leads and a couple of ties before te Sailfish were able to claim a 33-30 lead at halftime.
Rollins found themselves down 41-34 at the 6:25 mark of the third, but then found an offensive groove. Alfieri and
Lucy Leen each hit a pair of threes to retake the lead, 46-44. The Sailfish chipped the lead down to one possession with less than a minute to play, but Leen connected on her third triple of the quarter with seven seconds to go to give Rollins a 51-46 advantage.
The Tars played stifling defense in the fourth quarter, holding Palm Beach Atlantic to only four points on 0-10 from the floor and 4-8 from the free throw line. The Fish did not score in the last four minutes of the game. Leen added five of her game-high 19 in the final frame, leading to a 65-50 final score.
Leen hit five threes in the game en route to her 19 points, and also added five rebounds. Alfieri had 16 points and six boards.
Erin Leigh dished out seven assists as well.
The Tars will face a week of finals before returning to the court on Saturday, December 9. They will host the Lynn Fighting Knights in Winter Park at 2:00 pm.
