Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Florida Southern’s hot start Wednesday night was enough to give the Moccasins early control of the game, and even a cold finish wasn’t enough for Eckerd to take it away. With Tracy Fosterling making big plays all throughout the game, Michaela Hawley scoring 20 points, and clutch free throw shooting at the end by Megan Dzikas, the 22nd-ranked Moccasins held on for a 65-62 win over the Tritons.
Both teams started the game on fire with Florida Southern (10-2, 2-1 Sunshine State Conference) shooting 69 percent, and Eckerd shooting 67 percent with a little under 10 minutes to play in the first half. The Mocs scored on six of their first seven trips down the court, with Hawley at one point scoring on four straight possessions to help them take a 12-6 lead four minutes into the game.
The Moccasins also got six points from Fosterling during their early hot streak, as she twice scored on layups when the Tritons (7-3, 2-1) had pulled within two. After Eckerd’s Kati Rausberg made it a one-point game with the Tritons’ first 3-pointer, Fosterling got the ball to Dzikas, who made the Mocs’ first 3-pointer to give them a 22-18 lead at the 9:45 mark.
The scoring pace slowed considerably after that, with neither team scoring for almost four minutes. It was Florida Southern’s Taylor Maldonado who broke the Mocs out of their slump first, however, with Sofie Lundberg then draining a 3-pointer to give them a 10-point lead four minutes before halftime.
Eckerd’s Emilie Hesseldal would then score on three straight possessions to help the Tritons pull within 32-26 at the break. Hawley would score for Florida Southern to start the second half, but consecutive 3-pointers by Taylor Young had the Tritons back within two.
The Mocs never quite lost their lead, and had Fosterling to thank. Four times in the span of five minutes, the junior forward either scored a big basket or set one up for the Moccasins. Her three-point play with 9:32 remaining was the first of those plays and put Florida Southern ahead 48-41. Her offensive rebound and put-back at the 7:46 mark gave the Mocs an 8-point lead, another offensive rebound led to a Dzikas 3-pointer with 5:58 remaining, and her steal with 4:58 on the clock led to a fast-break basket by Hawley that gave Florida Southern it’s largest lead of the night (59-46).
The Mocs still led 62-51 with 3:24 remaining when Eckerd went on a 9-0 run aided by two Florida Southern turnovers near the Eckerd basket. A 3-pointer by Rausberg with 2:33 to play got the Tritons within two points, but Rausberg then missed a 3-pointer that would have given them their first lead, and Young missed a layup after a baseline drive that would have tied the score with 24 seconds to play.
That forced Eckerd to foul Dzikas after Hawley had grabbed the rebound under the basket, and Dzikas sank both free throws to make it 64-60. Young then scored for Eckerd with 8.7 seconds to play, to once again get the Tritons within two before Hawley made one-of-two foul shots for the Mocs. That left Eckerd with a chance to tie the score, but Linsey Niles’ 3-point attempt from the top of the key went off the rim as time expired.
Hawley was one of three Moccasins to reach double figures in points, with Dzikas scoring a season-high 17 points and handing out eight assists, and Fosterling scoring 12 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Dzikas had most of points shooting from behind the arc, going 5-for-11 from long range.
Hawley had eight rebounds for the Moccasins, who held a 38-26 edge over Eckerd in the game.
Eckerd got 20 points, four assists and five steals from Hesseldal, and 15 points and eight rebounds from Rausberg, who also made three 3-pointers in eight attempts. Young scored 14 for the Tritons, and was 4-for-4 from the free throw line, while Eckerd was just 7-for-14 from the line as a team.
The Moccasins ended up shooting 52 percent from the floor, and Eckerd shot 44 percent.
Florida Southern will be on the road this Saturday when it travels to Davie to take on Nova Southeastern at 2:00 p.m.
