Mocs Fall on Road in SSC Action at Saint Leo

SAINT LEO â€" Florida Southern (7-5, 2-1) traveled to Saint Leo (7-6, 2-1) looking for their third conference win of the season but couldn’t stop the Lions early as SLU buried the Mocs during an eight minute 20-0 run and would eventually drop the Mocassins 56-46 here Wednesday night in Sunshine State Conference play.

The Lions opened up the scoring in the game as Elise Clyburn hit a three but senior forward Kirstin McIntyre (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) answered on the next possession for the Mocs as she made a layup to close the score within one, 3-2. With a layup by Clyburn pushing the Lions lead to 5-2, McIntyre would again answer, scoring the next four points for the Mocs as FSC would take a 6-5 lead. That would be the last lead of the game for the Mocs however as Saint Leo went on a scoring spree.

It may have been back and forth between the Mocs and Lions going into the first media timeout as Saint Leo was leading FSC 8-6, but it was all SLU for the next seven minutes. The Lions used a 17-0 coming out of the media timeout to push the lead to 25-6 before the Mocs were able to finally get back on the board with a McIntyre jump shot.

McIntyre scored the first eight points for the Mocs and went into the half with a game-leading 12 points. The Mocs would out score the Lions 12-8 over the final eight minutes of the game going into the half down 15 points, 33-17.      

Coming out of the break, the Lions would continue building their lead as they used an 8-1 run to build a 22 point (41-18) advantage early in the second half. That was the largest lead for the Lions as the Mocs tried to mount a comeback over the final 16 minutes of the game.

Freshman guard Caitlin Lindsey (Port Charlotte, Fla.) started a 5-0 run for the Mocs as she hit two free throws to cut the lead to 41-24. The Lions and Mocs would trade points for the next four minutes before Lindsey hit a three to spark another 5-0 run as the Mocs were able to bring the score down to 46-34.    

Over the next few minutes the Mocs were able to cut the lead all the way down to 11 points on two free throws by junior forward Morgan Lamberg (Muckwanago, Wisc.). It was the closest that FSC would get until the final score as Saint Leo was able to counter every run the Mocs threw at them. The Mocs would finish the game strong by scoring the final four points of the contest however.

Freshman forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) played 19 minutes and gave the Mocs great minutes during the comeback attempt in the second half. She ended the night with seven points and eight boards.

McIntyre had a hot first half but only scored three points in the second to lead all scorers with 15 points as she also pulled down three boards on the night. Lamberg added eight points and seven boards. Lindsey and senior Tracy Fosterling (Albuquerque, N.M.) each had five points. Senior guard Melanie Ducott (North Lauderdale, Fla.) scored four points and added seven defensive boards on the night. Senior forward Alexis Hochstetler (Sarasota, Fla.) didn’t score on the night but pulled down five boards.

Florida Southern’s defense did step up in the second half by outscoring the Lions 28-23 and only allowing SLU to a 28.6 field goal percentage. The Mocs shut down their opponent from beyond the arc once again as SLU went 0-7 from three point line after starting the game 4-4 and ending the first half 4-8.

The Mocs will get back to action this Saturday, Jan. 12 as they travel down to Davie to take on the Nova Southeastern Sharks in a 2 p.m. tip-off for their fourth SSC game of the season.