Moccasins Battle for 40 Minutes, Fall Short at Barry

MIAMI SHORES - Florida Southern and Barry battled toe-to-toe for 40 minutes here Wednesday evening, but the Buccaneers made just enough plays over the final three-plus minutes of the game to hold on for a 64-61 victory over the Moccasins in Sunshine State Conference action at the Health & Sports Center on the Barry campus.

The Mocs, who trailed 48-36 just a little over five minutes into the second half, used a 19-5 run capped by a lay-up from senior forward Kirstin McIntyre (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) with 5:39 left in the game to take a 55-53 lead. The run was keyed by senior forward Alexis Hochstetler (Sarasota, Fla.), who scored nine of her career-high 18 points. Hochstetler would end up in the bench in the closing minutes after drawing her fifth foul with 4:20 remaining.

With the loss, the Mocs fell to 8-12 overall and 2-8 in the SSC, while Barry improved to 11-8 overall and 3-7 in the league. The win avenged a 47-44 loss by the Bucs in Lakeland on Jan. 5.

Following the Mocs second-half run that gave them the lead, Barry's Colette Eule hit a trey with 4:27 to give the Bucs a 56-55 lead. From that point, the two teams would trade the lead four times until Kaley Howard scored on a lay-up with 2:05 left in the game to give BU a 62-58 advantage.

Senior guard Melanie Ducott (North Lauderdale, Fla.) scored on a lay-up with 1:39 left to drop Barry's lead to 62-61. After Eule missed a shot on the other end of the floor, the Mocs had two shot attempts to retake the lead, the final one being a lay-up by freshman forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) that was blocked by BU's Danika Pisconeri with 13 seconds left.

Barry's Dominique Dixon hit two free throws with 10.4 seconds left to push the Bucs lead to 64-61. The Mocs had one more chance to tie the game and force overtime, but senior forward Tracy Fosterling (Albuquerque, N.M.) misfired on a three-point attempt just before the buzzer.

The Mocs, who have now dropped five straight games, stayed in the game thanks to a 43-27 edge on the glass, including 15 offensive boards that led to 16 second chance points. In the first half, FSC had a 24-12 edge on the boards and had nine on the offensive end of the floor that led to a 12-3 edge in second chance points.

In addition to Hochstetler's career night, junior forward Morgan Lamberg (Mukwanago, Wis.) added 14 points and nine boards on the night, while Harris and freshman guard Caitlin Lindsey (Port Charlotte, Fla.) each had seven points. Lindsey finished with a career-high nine boards, including four offensive and Harris added seven boards.

Barry jumped out to a 4-0 lead just a minute into the game, but the Mocs came right back and used a 9-3 run to take a 9-7 lead with 16:07 left in the half following a three-pointer from Hochstetler.

The Bucs, though, responded with a 13-8 run to take a 20-17 lead with 9:20 left in the half. The run was aided by four Moccasin turnovers. The Mocs finished the night with 20 turnovers that led to 19 points. Barry committed 12 turnovers that led to 11 points for the Mocs. 

After Harris converted a three-point play to pull the Mocs within 20-19, the Bucs used a 12-3 run to extend its lead to 32-22 with 6:29 left. The run was keyed by six points from Tyler Hardy, who finished with a team-high 13 in the game.

FSC would once again fight back as they used a 12-5 run highlighted by six points from Lamberg to pull within 37-34 with 40 seconds left, but Barry scored the final two points of the half on two free throws by Perez with 11.1 seconds left to take a 39-34 lead at the half. 

Along with Hardy, Dixon added 12 points and Jackie Perez chipped in with 10 in the win.

For the game, the Mocs shot 39 percent from the field and 43 percent from the 3-point line, while Barry shot 40 percent from the floor and was held to 23 percent from long distance. Both teams were strong from the foul line as the Mocs shot 86 percent (12-for-14) at the line and Barry shot 74 percent (14-for-19).

The Mocs will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 9 as they return home to Jenkins Field House to host Nova Southeastern in a 12 p.m. SSC match-up that will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network as part of the NCAA Division II National Game of the Week package.