Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Trailing Barry by two games in the loss column going into Saturday night’s game, Florida Southern got one of those games back, but needed overtime to do it. The Moccasins also needed a big night from Michaela Hawley and got that too. Hawley scored a season-high 30 points, including 24 in the second half and overtime, to lead the Mocs to a 63-60 win over the Buccaneers.
Florida Southern (12-3, 4-2 Sunshine State Conference) led 38-26 with less than 14 minutes to play, but saw Barry (9-5, 4-1) score 11 straight points in the span of three minutes to cut that lead to one. Most of the scoring for the Buccaneers was done by Brooke Keeton, who scored seven of her 11 points in the game during that run, which included a three-point play that made the score 38-37.
The Mocs ended their drought with a 3-pointer by Sofie Lundberg, and got the lead up to six again when Hawley made two free throws at the 7:12 mark. However, Barry came back once again, this time scoring six straight points to tie the game at 47.
Morgan Lamberg then stepped up for the Mocs with a jumper at the edge of the paint and two free throws with 2:40 to play, giving them a 51-50 lead after the Bucs had briefly gone ahead for the first time since midway through the first half. A second-chance basket by Kaley Howard put Barry back on top with 26 seconds to play before Hawley made one-of-two free throws with 10.7 seconds on the clock to tie the score at 52.
Barry had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Shanna Suttington was off the mark with a 3-point attempt with three seconds remaining, and the Mocs did not have time to get a shot off themselves.
In overtime, the Bucs scored first on a jumper by Yvonne Houston, but Lamberg tied the game for Florida Southern, and Hawley blocked a shot by Howard on the Bucs’ next possession before scoring the go-ahead basket that put the Mocs ahead to stay.
Hawley would score two more baskets in the final 1:33 of overtime, each time giving Florida Southern a 5-point lead. Each time, Barry scored immediately thereafter to cut the gap to three, and when the Mocs were unable to convert the front end of a 1-and-1 with 11 seconds to play, the Bucs had one last chance.
Following the missed free throw, the Bucs raced down the court without using a timeout, getting the ball to Danielle DeBerry on the top right side of the 3-point arc. Hawley and Lamberg were there to meet her though, and DeBerry’s awkward off-balance shot appeared to be deflected by Hawley. The Bucs ended up with the ball out of bounds, but after mishandling the inbounds pass with 1.6 seconds to play, they were unable to get a shot away before time expired.
Hawley was 12-for-15 from the floor and six-for-seven from the line in her third career 30-point game. The senior forward also had six rebounds and four blocked shots after playing just nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. When she re-entered the game, Barry had no answer for her, as Hawley scored the Moccasins’ first 12 points of the second half, with Megan Dzikas feeding her inside on four of those six baskets.
It was a busy night for Dzikas, who handed out a career-high 11 assists, most of them with Hawley on the receiving end. The senior guard also assisted four of Florida Southern’s five field goals in overtime when Hawley and Lamberg combined to score all 11 of the Moccasins’ points.
Lamberg was the only other Moccasin in double figures beside Hawley, scoring 12 points and pulling down seven rebounds. Tracy Fosterling had 11 boards and three blocked shots.
Barry got 13 points from DeBerry, 11 from Keeton and 10 from Suttington.
Barry was able to grab the lead on several occasions during the game, but never by more than two points.
Florida Southern will be on the road for its next game on Wednesday night, taking on the University of Tampa at 5:30 p.m.
