Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Eighth-seeded Barry University played inspired basketball for most of the first half Wednesday night against top-seeded Florida Southern, and in the process, flirted with history. Then, Moccasin head coach Jarrod Olson provided some inspiration of his own, history was restored to its normal course, and Florida Southern moved into the semifinals of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament with a 66-52 victory over the Buccaneers.
Barry (12-15) was attempting to become the first #8 seed to ever win in the SSC Tournament, and for much of Wednesday night’s game, the Bucs stood a pretty good chance of pulling it off. They never trailed in the first half, were up by as much as 13 points, and led 48-42 with less than nine minutes to play before Florida Southern (23-4) used a 17-0 run to pull away for good. In reality though, the turning point may have come much earlier.
Barry had scored the first seven points and eventually led 20-7 before Florida Southern scored on five straight possessions to cut the gap to seven. Chelsea Johnson and Emma Cannon each scored baskets on two of them, and Megan Dzikas knocked down a 3-pointer during that stretch as well. It was a short-lived rally though, as the Mocs followed it with back-to-back turnovers, leading to back-to-back buckets by Yvonne Houston, and Barry’s lead was back to double digits at 30-19.
That’s when Olson used a timeout to deliver a message to the Moccasins they received loud and clear. After that, the Moccasins out-scored the Buccaneers 10-0 over the final three minutes of the first half, with Johnson immediately hitting a 3-pointer after the timeout. Even the ball started the bouncing their way, when Dzikas later fired a pass into the paint and had it deflected by a Barry defender, only to have it go right to Cannon, who made the shot, got fouled, and completed the play with a free throw that got the Mocs within four.
Florida Southern took its first lead when Michaela Hawley scored at the end of a fast-break early in the second half, but it didn’t hold up very long. Houston hit a 3-pointer at the other end to put Barry back on top, 33-31, the Bucs maintain that lead for more than 11 minutes. It reached 48-42 when Shanna Suttington made a 3-pointer with 9:35 remaining, but it was all Florida Southern after that.
Taking advantage of five straight Barry turnovers, the Mocs got a basket from Hawley and two from Cannon to tie the score before Taylor Maldonado drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to put them ahead, 51-48, with 6:05 to play. Tanja Speaker then drove in the dagger with a 3-point field goal of her own at the 3:04 mark, capping the Mocs’ 17-0 run.
After the Bucs scored twice to cut the gap to 59-52, Maldonado and Cannon provided the back-breaking play with 1:40 remaining. Maldonado took the shot clock all the way down to zero before driving to the basket, and though her shot was off the rim, Cannon grabbed the rebound and was fouled as she scored on a layup. She once again completed the three-point play, and the Bucs never threatened again.
Cannon finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds, while also making two steals and blocking two shots. Hawley added 11 points, Speaker scored nine and handed out five assists, and Johnson had eight points and seven assists.
The Moccasins ended up shooting 44 percent from the floor, not a bad percentage after they’d started the game two-for-15.
Barry was led by Suttington, who scored 16 points and went five-for-nine from 3-point range. Houston scored 11.
The win sends regular season champion Florida Southern into the SSC semifinals where the Moccasins will face 4th-seeded Eckerd. The Tritons were a 70-62 winner over Rollins on Wednesday. Florida Southern and Eckerd will tip-off at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in Melbourne, with the semifinals and championship game hosted by Florida Tech.
