MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (December 7, 2024) - Women's basketball could not hold on to their early lead, eventually falling by a score of 82-73 to the Barry Buccaneers on Saturday. The loss moves the Tars to 5-5 on the year and 1-3 in SSC play. Barry improves to 7-2, 1-2 SSC.
Rollins won the first quarter with efficient shooting and great defense. After falling behind early 4-0, Rollins went on a 9-0 run to take the lead, highlighted by four points from
Kaitlyn Sanders. Barry tied the game back up at nine all, but a
Tara Murray three and a three-point play from
Zai Mitchell put Rollins up 15-11 at the end of one.
The second quarter saw Barry come out hot, posting a 13-2 run to open play. The Buccaneer lead would grow as high as seven, but timely triples from
Claire Erickson and Sanders kept Rollins in the game. Still, by the time the halftime horn went off, it was Barry holding a 33-26 lead.
The Tars came out of the locker room with purpose, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to knot the game at 33. Unfortunately, Barry had an impressive response; the Bucs scored sixteen straight points over the next three minutes to blow the game open at 49-33. Consecutive made threes from
Ajalon Gillard and Sanders brought the lead down to ten, but Barry would fight back and take a 58-47 advantage through three.
The fourth quarter was an offensive explosion as the two teams combined to score 50 points. Every time the Tars threatened to make a run, the Bucs seemingly knocked down their next shot to stifle any sort of rally. Their lead grew as high as 17 points with just under five minutes to play. Murray knocked down a pair of threes, followed by a layup from
Paris Triplett to make the score 73-64. Barry continued to stay cold while Gillard hit another shot from deep, making it a six-point game, 73-67, with 1:45 to go. With time running out, Rollins was forced to foul, and the Bucs knocked down enough free throws to keep their advantage and take home the 82-73 win.
Sanders led the offense with 18 points and four assists. Murray was next in line with eleven points, and
Aaliyah Irizarry-Perez tallied nine points and twelve rebounds. The Tars shot 42% from the floor and made fifteen threes at a 44% clip in one of their top shooting performances of the season. Rollins' downfall came from turnovers; they gave the ball away 18 times in the game.
The Tars will take the next week off for final exams before sneaking one last game in ahead of the holiday break. Rollins will return to action at home on Monday, December 16 when they host Webber International. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm.
