SAINT LEO, Fla. (February 12, 2024) - Women's basketball put together one of their best performances of the season on Wednesday, using a big second-half to defeat the Saint Leo Lions 75-61. The Tars now stand at 8-14 overall with a 3-12 record in the SSC. The Lions fall to 8-15, 3-13 SSC.
Rollins came out of the gates hot, posting twenty points in the first quarter.
Aaliyah Irizarry-Perez had the first four points of the game, and also collected seven boards in the first period. Meanwhile,
Claire Erickson found her shooting stroke, scoring nine points from all parts of the court. The Tars had a 20-16 lead after one.
A barrage of three pointers from Rollins kept them in the lead for most of the second. Erickson,
Faith Newton, and
Emily McIntosh all connected from deep. However, a late run from the Lions actually gave them the lead, but Erickson was able to finish a layup right before the buzzer to tie the game at 39 heading to the locker room.
The third quarter saw the scoring slow down, but Rollins still managed to control the game. The Tars went on a 9-2 run to start the quarter, and held the Lions to those two points for over five minutes. Saint Leo made a late run to pull within one, but a strong finish with a
Kaitlyn Sanders jumper and a McIntosh layup had Rollins up 54-49.
Rollins was simply dominant in the fourth quarter. Erickson, Irizarry-Perez, and Sanders combined to score 19 points in the final frame as the Lions failed to hang, leading to a 75-61 final.
For Erickson, her team high 21 points were also the most she ever scored in a game. She was an efficient 8-10 from the floor, hit three threes, and added three rebounds. Speaking of boards, Irizarry-Perez set a new personal best by pulling down 20 rebounds, tied for the most by a SSC player this season.
Next up for the Tars is another road game, this time against Lynn. The Tars will travel to Boca Raton on Saturday, February 15 with tipoff scheduled for 2:00 pm.
