LAKELAND - With their highest scoring game since the 2002-03 season, the Moccasins rolled to their ninth straight win, 103-82, over North Georgia in the final game of the FSC/Holiday Inn South Classic at Jenkins Field House Sunday.
The nine straight wins gives the Moccasins a 9-1 record heading into the Christmas holiday break. That matches the best start to a season since the 1995-96 Moccasins also went 9-1 in their first 10 games.
It took the Moccasins just over 11 minutes to get the lead into double digits when Chelsea Johnson hit a pair of free throws to put FSC up 32-22 with 8:24 left in the first half. Their halftime lead was 52-36 and North Georgia never got closer than 14 points in the second half.
Johnson, one of five Moccasins scoring in double figures, led the team with 24 points. Nicolle DiRaimo tossed in a season-high 21 points. Megan Dzikas had 16, Michaela Hawley 15 and Deneen Bell added a season-high 14 off the bench.
Ashley Wilson's three-pointer with 32 seconds left got the Moccasins to the century mark and Emily Grayson added a three-pointer with six seconds to go for the Moccasins' final total. The 103 points are the most the Moccasins have scored in a game since the 2002-03 squad crushed Puerto Rico-Mayaguez 109-39 on Nov. 25, 2002.
The Moccasins shot a season-best 53.1 percent from the field on the strength of 58.6 percent shooting in the second half. They also had a season-high 12 three-pointers and were 23 of 26 from the free throw line. FSC committed a season-low nine turnovers, while forcing North Georgia into 23.
North Georgia (4-4) had a sensational effort from Whitney Randolph, who scored 36 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
In the first game Sunday, Saint Leo pulled away in the final six minutes for a 59-50 victory over Saint Rose. Dominique Daniels led the Lions with a 16-point, 10-rebound effort, while Ashley Rath topped Saint Rose with an 18-point, 10-rebound performance.
Named to the All-Classic Team were Rath, Daniels, Brittany Carannante of Saint Leo, Randolph, Dzikas and Johnson.
The only downside to the Moccasin victory Sunday was the fact that head coach Jarrod Olson wasn't there to see it. He was hospitalized early Sunday morning with an appendicitis attack and assistant coach Holly Borchers directed the team in his absence.
The Moccasins finish the 2009 portion of their season Dec. 30, when they take on New York Tech at 6 p.m. at Jenkins Field House.
