Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG â€" There wasn’t much margin for error Wednesday night in the game between Florida Southern and Eckerd, but what little there was, was provided by Michaela Hawley and Danielle Walsh, and all of it came in the final three minutes. Hawley and Walsh combined for 10 straight points after Eckerd had tied the game at 55, before Megan Dzikas clinched it at the line to provide the Moccasins with a 67-61 win.
With the game going back-and-forth all throughout the night, neither team led by more than six until Dzikas made two free throws to put the Moccasins (17-5, 8-4 Sunshine State Conference) up by seven with 12.1 seconds to play. Even that 6-point lead by Florida Southern came in the first 2½ minutes of the game, with the margin staying between one and four for the first 13 minutes of the second half.
Florida Southern finally moved the gap to five points when Dzikas hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 7:05 remaining, but Eckerd (12-8, 6-6) was able to tie the game at 55 when Linsey Niles was able to score on a turn-around layup with 3:19 to play. That followed a 3-pointer by Amy Buccilla that was the only time in the second half that Eckerd made shots on back-to-back trips down the court.
After the tying basket by Niles, the Moccasins went to Hawley in the paint, who was fouled going to the basket and made two free throws to give the Mocs a 57-55 lead. After the Tritons committed a turnover, Walsh scored on an inbounds play under the basket, and the senior guard scored on another driving layup at the 1:58 mark to make the score 61-56. The Tritons got another free throw after that, but Walsh pushed the lead to 63-57 when she converted two free throws with 1:06 remaining.
Eckerd again closed the gap to four, and this time it was Hawley who came up big for the Moccasins. Protecting a 63-59 lead with a little under a minute remaining, the Mocs worked the shot clock almost all the way down before Hawley took a pass on the right side of the lane from Taylor Maldonado, turned inside and put the ball of the glass for a basket with 28.1 seconds to play and one second on the shot clock.
Dzikas then hit the two big free throws after Eckerd missed a shot at the other end, and a layup by Eckerd’s Krystal Charles provided the final margin.
Early on, the Moccasins made their first three attempts from long range, taking an 8-2 lead behind triples by Maldonado and Dzikas. Eckerd took its first lead at the 13:58 mark of the first half, and it went back-and-forth for several minutes after that. During one stretch, the Mocs scored on six of seven possessions, with Hawley scoring on four of them, and the Tritons scored on five of six.
When Morgan Lamberg, who had all eight of her points in the first half, scored on a layup 1:06 before halftime, the Mocs had a 5-point lead again, but Eckerd’s Taylor Young made a 3-point shot and a layup in the final 40 seconds to tie the game at the half, 34-34.
Hawley led the Mocs with 21 points and seven rebounds (her 14th 20-point game of the season), Dzikas scored 13 points, had three rebounds, three assists, three steals and was 3-for-5 on 3-point attempts. Walsh scored 11 points and had five boards.
Charles led the Tritons with 20 points and added seven rebounds. Niles scored 12 points and had three steals while playing all 40 minutes.
Florida Southern shot 47 percent from the floor, their best percentage in the last nine games.
Florida Southern will be on the road again Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. game at Barry University. The Buccaneers won their game on Wednesday night against Lynn, keeping them a game-and-a-half ahead of the Moccasins for second place in the Sunshine State Conference. The Mocs won the first meeting this year, 63-60 in overtime.
