SAINT LEO - Chelsea Johnson has had some outstanding games in her Florida Southern career, but none has been better than Saturday night's effort against Georgia Southwestern.
The junior from North Port scored a career-high 38 points and matched her career rebounding high with seven to lead the Moccasins to their third straight win, an 81-72 decision at the Sleep Inn Classic at Saint Leo.
Johnson delivered 26 of her 38 points in the second half. Her basket with two seconds left in the first half gave FSC a 37-35 lead at halftime. Georgia Southwestern went ahead by three early in the second half, but Michaela Hawley's layup tied the game at 50-50 with 14:30 remaining. At that point, Johnson produced a sensational run, scoring the Moccasins' next 16 points to push the lead to 68-55 and put the game out of reach.
For the game, Johnson was 14 of 24 from the field, including five three-pointers, and five of seven from the free throw line. Her previous scoring high had been 37 points last season against Rollins.
Hawley was the only other Moccasin to score in double figures, as she had 12. Nicolle DiRaimo pulled down 13 rebounds, one short of her career high and Megan Dzikas matched her career high in assists with eight.
Johnson and Dzikas were the Moccasins' representatives on the All-Classic Tournament Team.
The Moccasins (3-1) play their home opener Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. at Jenkins Field House against Puerto Rico-Bayamon.