WINTER PARK, Fla. (February 26, 2025) - Women's basketball put together one of their top performances of the season on Wednesday, easily handling the visiting Florida Southern Mocs to the tune of a 75-58 win. The Tars improve to 9-17, 4-15 SSC on the season while the Mocs drop to 10-16, 5-14 SSC.
Rollins set the tone early with a fantastic first quarter that saw them shooting 12-20 (60%) from the field.
Claire Erickson and
Maddie Dillinger paced the offense early on with a pair of makes each, followed by two buckets from
Kaitlyn Sanders and eight points off the bench from
Faith Newton. The Tars did a spectacular job breaking down the Moccasin zone defense, finding open looks around the free throw line, or getting good position in the paint for layups. The result was a 27-19 lead after one.
Erickson scored the first five points of the second quarter for Rollins to help them maintain a strong lead. After Florida Southern began to chip away at the double-digit lead,
Aaliyah Irizarry-Perez was able to score four straight points for the Tars to make it a 39-27 game. After another Moc run, Sanders and Erickson connected on back-to-back threes to blow the game open once again. Erickson's triple with under a minute to play made it a 48-34 game at halftime.
The Tars shot an impressive 19-32 (60%) from the floor in the first half, including 8-13 from three-point range.
The third quarter was ugly for both teams, but Rollins still found a way to come out on top. Dillinger scored six points in the first two minutes to extend the lead all the way to 54-34. Meanwhile, the Rollins defense did not allow Southern to score a point until a free throw was made at the 5:20 mark. Only one total point was scored in the final 3:06 of the quarter as Rollins maintained a comfortable 58-43 lead.
Both teams shot significantly better in the final frame, but Rollins was able to take advantage of makes from multiple players to keep their large lead. Sanders was responsible for six points in the fourth, while Dillinger,
Emily McIntosh, and
Zai Mitchell all scored in the first couple of minutes. While the Tars only managed one field goal in the final 4:41 of game time, they had plenty of lead to hold on for a convincing 75-58 win.
Before the game, four seniors were recognized by the coaching staff. Each one contributed significantly to the win on Wednesday. Dillinger tied for the team lead with 18 points. Sanders was good for 14 points and six assists. Irizarry-Perez stuffed the secondary stat sheet with 11 rebounds and six assists as well. And
Caroline Swartz, the captain, added four points, seven rebounds, and two assists.
Rollins will wrap up their season with a road game at Nova Southeastern on Saturday. Tipoff from Fort Lauderdale is scheduled for 2:00 pm.
