Mocs Use Career-Night from Strawbridge to Earn First SSC Win of Season

MIAMI SHORES - Florida Southern returned to the road here Wednesday evening as they used a career-high night from freshman Christin Strawbridge to post a 75-66 overtime win over Barry in Sunshine State Conference action at the Health and Sports Center on the Barry campus.

The win helped the Moccasins snap an 11-game losing skid in SSC play as they improved to 6-14 overall and 1-9 in the SSC. The victory was FSC's first in SSC play since picking up a 60-53 win at home against Florida Tech on Feb. 23, 2013.

Strawbridge, who finished the night with 32 points and 11 rebounds for her second career-double-double, scored 17 of the Mocs final 30 points, including tallying nine of FSC's 16 points in overtime.

The 32 point effort by the forward from Lakeland were the most points scored by a Moccasin player since Michaela Hawley scored 30 points against this same Barry team on Jan. 14, 2012.

FSC, who trailed 47-40 with 11:24 left in the game, used a 17-9 run over the next nine-plus minutes to take a 57-56 lead following a lay-up and free throw by Strawbridge to complete a three-point play with 1:43 remaining.

The Buccaneers (11-8, 4-6 SSC) would retake the lead at 59-57 on a trey by Ines Kerin with 37 seconds left, before Strawbridge scored in the paint to tie the game with nine seconds left in regulation. The game would go into overtime after the Bucs' Tyler Hardy couldn't get a shot up as time expired in regulation.
 
In the overtime period, the Bucs struck first on two free throws by Tyler Hardy with 4:29 left, before Strawbridge hit two free throws 42 seconds later to tie the game at 61.

The Mocs retook the lead with 3:08 left in the extra session as Strawbridge scored and was fouled to complete a 3-point play and FSC's lead grew to 66-61 following two free throws by sophomore guard Ali Sanders (Sleepy Hollow, Ill.) with 2:09 left in the extra session.

Barry, though, used a trey from Kerin 27 seconds later to tie pull the Bucs within 66-64 and then tied the game with 49 seconds left on another bucket by Kerin, who finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in the loss.

Kerin's bucket would be the final points of the game for the Bucs as the Mocs closed the overtime by scoring the final nine points, including senior forward Morgan Lamberg (Mukwonago, Wis.) hitting four free throws in the final 14 seconds to complete the scoring and seal the Mocs win.

In addition to Strawbridge's career night, Sander and junior forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) each scored 10 points, while junior guard Syerra Davis (Tolleson, Ariz.) had nine points, five boards and five assists in the win.

The Mocs opened the game missing nine of of its first 11 shots as Barry jumped out to a 10-5 lead just six-plus minutes into the game. Back-to-back baskets by Strawbridge gave the Mocs an 11-10 lead with 11:25 left in the half. 

After a lay-up by Davis gave the Mocs a 15-14 lead, the Bucs used a 13-6 run capped by back-to-back treys from Tyler Hardy to take a 27-21 lead with 4:32 left in the half. The Mocs would answer BU's run by closing the half on an 8-3 run to go into halftime trailing by just one point at 30-29.

In the first half, Strawbridge and Harris combined to score 18 of FSC's 29 points as Strawbridge tallied 10 and Harris had eight points.

Hardy, who scored 11 points in the first half, including going 3-for-3 from the 3-point line, finished the night with 17 points and five boards. Hardy entered the game leading the SSC in both scoring (19.4) and rebounding (8.6).

Along with Kerin and Hardy, Kaylia Richardson tallied 15 points and seven boards, while Lynae Richardson had 10 points for the Bucs.

Despite missing nine of its first 11 shots, the Mocs finished the game shooting 43 percent from the field, but hit just 1-of-9 (11 percent) from the 3-point line, while Barry shot 38 percent from the field and 29 percent from long distance.

The Mocs also held a 47-37 edge on the glass and its bench outscored Barry, 39-10. Both teams took care of the basketball for the most part as FSC had 14 turnovers and Barry finished with 12 turnovers.

FSC made a living at the foul line, though, as they connected on 20 of its 25 (80 percent) free throw attempts, including Strawbridge going 6-for-7 at the line. Barry made just 5 of its 11 (46 percent) of its free throws on the night.  

The Mocs will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 8 as they host Lynn in a 5:30 p.m. SSC match-up at Jenkins Field House. The Fighting Knights earned a 57-54 win over the Mocs in Boca Raton on Jan. 11.