Box Score LAKELAND – Florida Southern managed to carve a chunk out of Eckerd's double-digit lead in the second half but couldn't overcome the Tritons in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House Wednesday night.
The Moccasins (8-5, 2-2 SSC) dropped their second straight conference game with the 69-58 loss to the Tritons (12-3, 3-2 SSC).
The Mocs trailed by as much as 18 in the second half before trimming the deficit to six points with a 16-to-6 run. Junior Mariah Harris began the run with a layup with eight minutes remaining. The Gainesville, Fla., product capped it off with a pair of free throws with just under four minutes to play, making it a 61-56 Triton lead.
The 6-1 forward led all scorers with a season-high 19 points. Harris, who entered the game 10th in the SSC in field goal percentage, went 8-for-9 from the field. She added six rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes on the floor.
Harris would added another layup with a little over three minutes remaining and the Mocs trailed 63-57.
"It can't just be Mariah showing up, one person showing up, it's got to be at least three of four players," said Florida Southern head coach Betsy Harris.
"It's still early; we can get better," she added.
Reigning SSC Player of the Week Ivana Grbic extended her team's cushion back out to 10 with 1:54 to go. Eckerd's 6-3 forward Trine Kasemagi sunk a pair of late free throws to seal the victory.
For the second consecutive game, FSC allowed the opposition to shoot over 50 percent. The Tritons went 23-for-45 (51.1 percent) from the field. They were also 17-for-20 from the charity stripe.
While the Mocs improved from their worst shooting performance of the season on Saturday at No. 11 Nova Southeastern, making 39.3 percent of their baskets, Betsy Harris was once again disappointed with the offense's inability to score.
"Anytime we score less than 60, we're probably going to lose," said the Moccasin coach. "In the first half, we weren't feeding our post players. I told them over and over, the only way we're going to win game, to be successful, is to feed the post. If the post players don't score, we're not going to win games."
Eckerd senior Rana Thomas showed why she's the SSC's second-highest scorer in the first half, netting 14 of her team-best 18 points in the opening period. She helped the Tritons pull out to a double-digit lead with two 3-pointers. Her second trey made it 23-14 at 11:37. She gave Eckerd its first 10-point advantage, 27-17, with a pair of foul shots two minutes later.
The Mocs scored eight unanswered points from there. Sophomore forward Danielle Thomas (Conyers, Ga.) scored the final five points of the run after a Cashala Thompson (Tucson, Ariz.) 3-pointer. She finished the latter of two straight layups with a foul shot to complete the and-one play and FSC only trailed by two, 27-25.
The Tritons opened the game back up with a pair of 3-pointers, the first of the conventional style from junior Margaret Sundberg. Senior Kayla Bowlin was then fouled while attempting a three and made the trio of ensuing free throws to make it 37-27 in favor of the Tritons.
Eckerd led 41-29 at the break.
Senior guard Syerra Davis (Tolleson, Ariz.) scored a dozen points for the second consecutive game. Freshman point guard Jensen Blassage (Rockford, Ill.) led the Mocs with seven rebounds in her first career start.
Florida Southern returns to Jenkins Field House on Saturday to host No. 16 Florida Tech. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
