Box Score
BOCA RATON - Florida Southern used a strong second-half defensive effort and a season-high 45 rebounds in posting a 59-52 win here Saturday afternoon over Lynn in the Sunshine State Conference opener for both teams.
The Moccasins, who improved to 3-3 on the season 1-0 in the SSC, held the Fighting Knights to 32 percent field goal shooting and 18 percent shooting from the 3-point line and collected 23 of its 45 boards after halftime to win its third straight game after opening the season with three straight setbacks.
"I am really happy for the girls. We really played hard and competed against a good Lynn team," Mocs first-year head coach Holly Borchers said following the game. "We did a good job on the boards, especially on the defensive end."
After trailing 26-25 at the half, Lynn opened the second half on a 9-7 run to take a 34-32 lead just a little over four minutes into the second half. The Mocs, though, would respond with a 14-0 run to take a 46-34 lead following a basket by freshman guard Ali Sanders (Carpentersville, Ill.). The Mocs run was keyed by seven consecutive points from senior forward Tracy Fosterling (Albuquerque, N.M.).
"We were ready to play today. I thought we worked hard as a team and really defended and rebounded well," said Fosterling, who finished with nine points and a season-high tying eight boards in the win.
After Lynn stopped the Mocs run with a lay-up by Tylar Tracy with 9:40 left in the game, the Mocs used a 9-4 run capped by five consecutive points from junior guard Taylor Maldonado (Stroudsburg, Pa.) to take a 55-40 lead with three minutes remaining.
LU, who suffered its first loss of the season and is now 5-1 on the season, would creep back into the game as they used 10-0 run to pull within 55-50 following a basket by Shatorria Baker with 31 seconds left. The run was keyed by three turnovers from the Mocs, who finished with 18 in the game.
Sanders and Maldonado would each hit two free throws and LU's Baker would score on a lay-up before the buzzer to complete the game's scoring.
In the first half, the Mocs jumped out to a 16-6 lead just a little over eight minutes into the game. The lead, though, was shortlived as the Fighting Knights used a 12-2 run to tie the game at 18 with 4:55 left in the half. Lynn would use a 7-4 run to take a 25-22 lead following a trey by Baker, but the Mocs would score the final three points to lead by a point at the half.
Senior forward Kirstin McIntyre (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) was the other Moc to finish in double figures as she had 14 points, including 10 in the first half and added nine boards, while senior forward Alexis Hochstetler (Sarasota, Fla.) added a season-high eight points.
Baker led Lynn with 14 points, while Kira Harvey added 12 points and five boards in the loss.
For the game, the Mocs shot 40 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line, while Lynn finished shooting 33 percent from the field and 23 percent from long distance.
The Mocs will take a week off before returning to action next Saturday, Dec. 8 with a 2 p.m. non-conference contest at Palm Beach Atlantic.
