SAINT LEO - Nicolle DiRaimo's basket at the buzzer gave the Moccasins a come-from-behind 78-76 Sunshine State Conference road win at Saint Leo Wednesday night.
After Chelsea Johnson had scored to tie the game at 76-76 with 14 seconds left, Saint Leo had the ball and a chance to win it, but the Lions turned the ball over with five seconds left. Following a Moccasin timeout, Johnson was able to get the ball to DiRaimo, who put up a shot just outside the lane that fell through the basket as the final buzzer sounded.
The win improves the Moccasins' record to 13-2, 4-1 in the SSC, and allows them to maintain a share of the SSC lead with Tampa, which beat Eckerd Wednesday night. Saint Leo drops to 10-4, 3-2 in the SSC.
The Moccasins had a 37-33 lead at halftime, but Saint Leo took the lead 56-54 on a basket by Lauren Lee wiht 10:19 remaining. The two teams then traded leads back and forth with neither team leading by more than four.
A pair of free throws by Willonda Windham with 24 seconds left gave the Lions what would be their final lead. Johnson's basket produced the game's 14th tie to set the stage for DiRaimo's game-winner.
Johnson led the Moccasins with 28 points, 22 of them in the second half, that allowed her to move into eighth place on the FSC career scoring list with 1,350 points. Hawley added 22 points, 12 coming in the second half, before fouling out with 24 seconds left. Megan Dzikas added 10 points.
Saint Leo received double-doubles from Windham with 20 points and 13 rebounds and Dominique Daniels, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The Moccasins are at home Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. in a Sunshine State Conference game against Lynn. The game will be broadcast live on the internet on SportsLine Radio Network (SLRN).
