Complete Moccasin Game Notes
LAKELAND – Florida Southern will host one of only three remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division II women's basketball when Florida Tech visits Jenkins Field House for a 5:30 p.m. Sunshine State Conference contest this Saturday.
The Panthers (14-0, 4-0 SSC) come in ranked 16th in the nation in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll. FIT, No. 1 Lewis University (16-0) and Livingstone College (15-0) represent the three remaining unbeaten teams in Division II.
"I would love to be the first team to upset them and I think it would be a huge confidence boost for the girls to upset somebody like this," said head coach Betsy Harris. "They're not just 16th in the nation, they're undefeated. It would make a statement."
The Moccasins are on a two-game slide in league play after losses to No. 11 Nova Southeastern on Jan. 10 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and at home against Eckerd on Wednesday.
"Our last game was a very winnable game and I am a little disappointed," the first-year head coach said.
Florida Tech presents another tough matchup for the Mocs.
"They're going to be tough to guard, that's no question," Betsy Harris said. "They basically play four guards and one post. There are times they play five guards. We would like to use the post as our strength, but then you have to figure out a way to guard all of those guards with our post players, and if you do that, especially if you go to a (man-to-man defense), you got to make sure if they score, you score, and you've got to keep that going."
The Panthers lead the SSC and are 16th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 38.2 percent. That shooting prowess has allowed the Panthers (82.8 ppg) and senior guard Kayk Wilson (21.4 ppg) to lead the conference in points on the team and individual level.
"They can shoot the three and that's what they'll do," Harris said.
FSC, on the other hand, is last in the SSC 3-point field goal percentage defense. The Mocs have allowed an average of 7.5 treys per game inside league play as opposed to 4.4 in their nine non-conference games.
Wilson is first in the SSC and eighth in all of Division II women's basketball with 3.3 treys per game. Among active players, she is the leader in 3-point field goal attempts (674), fourth in free throws made (459) and fifth in field goals attempted (1,315). An all-around player, Wilson is also fourth among active players with 219 steals.
"It's kind of like defending an old-time Michael Jordan," Betsy Harris said. "You've just got to be able to contain them and make sure they don't get more than their average."
The Mocs' offense will need to keep up with Wilson, Jasmire Brown (14.6 ppg) and Shequana Harris (13.8 ppg). However, over their last two contests, they are shooting only 32.8 percent from the field, including a season-low 28.0 percent (21-for-75) performance at Nova Southeastern.
"I'm just hoping that we got our two games of shooting bad out of the way because we are really going to have to shoot the ball well," Betsy Harris said. "I don't know if we can necessarily stop them all of the time because they're a team that scores baskets. No one has been able to stop them."
Junior forward Mariah Harris has led Moccasin offense so far in conference play. In the last four games, she's averaging a team-high 11.5 points. Last time out against Eckerd, Mariah Harris was 8-for-9 from the floor, scoring a season-high 19 points. She also pulled down six rebounds and dished out four assists.
The Gainesville, Fla., native's outing versus the Tritons is an example of how her coach would like to see the post players get involved in the offense.
"I preached to them early in the season that if our post players don't score, we don't have a chance of winning any ballgames," Betsy Harris said. "It's a little frustrating because I have told the guards, if you do feed the post, they'll have two or three people on them and you'll be wide open to either shoot it or drive it."
The Mocs lead the all-time series against the Panthers, 38-32. They hold a 20-8 advantage at home, but trail 12-17 in road games and 6-7 in neutral site games. Florida Tech swept the two-games series last season. The Panthers defeated the Mocs in Lakeland, 63-62, and in Melbourne, Fla., 71-64.
Mariah Harris netted a game-high 25 points in the one-point loss at home on Jan. 18, 2014. She scored 10 more in the road loss on Feb. 15, 2014, but it was Ali Sanders (Sleepy Hollow, Ill.) who led the team with 14 points.
Following the home tilt against the Panthers, Florida Southern will hit the road for two straight games, beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 21 with a 5:30 p.m. contest at Tampa.
