LAKELAND – The Florida Southern women's basketball team will open the New Year and end its six-game homestand with a 5:30 p.m. matchup against Barry at Jenkins Field House on Saturday, Jan. 3.
Entering 2015 with a 6-3 overall record, the Moccasins are already one win shy of matching last season's win total. With a 4-1 home record, they have doubled the number of home wins from a year ago, too.
In their last outing, an 81-63 victory over Molloy (N.Y.) on Dec. 19, the Mocs' offense recorded a season-high in points scored while point guards Sydni Payne and Jensen Blassage turned in career performances.
Although first-year head coach Betsy Harris has the team headed in the right direction after two straight losing seasons, she knows her team is going to need to play even better to navigate the Sunshine State Conference portion of the schedule, beginning against the Buccaneers on Saturday.
"We're supposed to be the underdogs every week," Harris said. "We just have to come out and fight every game. We need to try to play our best ball every night so that when we do come up against a Florida Tech or a Nova (Southeastern) we're prepared and we're not surprised. We need to totally prepare every practice."
Last season, the Mocs won two SSC games, the fewest in a single season since the conference began sponsoring women's basketball in 1982. One of those two wins came against Barry on Feb. 5, 2014. Christin Strawbridge led FSC to a 75-66 victory with a double-double, scoring a career-high 32 points in addition to 11 rebounds.
"We we're voted last in the conference in the preseason (SSC Women's Basketball Coaches Poll) because of what happened last year," Harris said. "They need to play with some motivation to prove people wrong so everybody knows we're a totally different team than we were last year."
The play of both Payne and Blassage will be critical for Harris' Mocs throughout the rest of the season. Payne (Conyers, Ga.) will likely make her third consecutive start at point guard coming off a career-high 18 points against Molloy (N.Y). She also tied her career high with six rebounds. Blassage (Rockford, Ill.) recorded personal bests with nine assists and six points vs. the Lions.
"The team is always going to go as the point guard goes," Harris said. "Sydni leads more by example while Jensen is a little more vocal, so they're two totally different point guards. We're going to go as far as they'll allow us, and that's a lot of pressure on them. Point guard is the hardest position on the floor."
Strawbridge enters 2015 leading the Mocs with 10.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. She is the only player to start all nine games for FSC. The sophomore from Lakeland, Fla., is second in the SSC in field goal percentage at 62.5 percent (40-for-64).
"There's not a whole lot you have to saw to Strawbridge; she self-motivates, she's competitive and she does what she has to do," Harris said. "She's got a good basketball IQ, she knows the game. We just got to get her scoring quicker. We just got to get her chances to just turn and shoot instead of holding the ball. She'll get better at that. I think a lot of it is about confidence. She has a coach that's actually telling her to shoot basically every time she's in the post."
The Buccaneers are 8-3 on the season and are 1-0 inside the SSC. They visit Lakeland coming off a win over Cornerstone, 48-46, on Dec. 31. Prior to the Christmas break, Barry lost its third game of the season to Albany State, 56-51. In their only SSC game of the season on Dec. 6, Barry outlasted Saint Leo, 68-67.
"They attack off the dribble, they have good 3-point shooters, but they try to get their post player down low, so pretty much an all-around team," said Harris of Saturday's opponent.
Barry has excelled from beyond the arc this season. The Bucs are second in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (37.2) and third in 3-pointers per game (7.1). Defending against the three will present a challenge for FSC. In their most recent loss to Eastern New Mexico, the Mocs were unable to contain the Zias' 3-point shooting as they surrendered a season-high nine treys (9-for-21).
The Buccaneers also lead the conference and are third in the nation in free throw percentage at 80.5 percent.
Individually, the Bucs are led by junior guard Jackie Perez and senior forward Nyjah Porcher. They are the only two players to start all 11 games for Barry and are the team's top two scorers. Perez leads the team with 12.2 points per game and is followed closely by Porcher, who averages 12.1 per game. In addition, Perez leads the conference in minutes with 36.5 per game and is second in 3-pointers (2.7), tied for fourth in assists (4.1), and tied for fifth in steals (2.3).
Saturday's game will mark the 34th Sunshine State Conference opener for Florida Southern. The Mocs are 21-12 all-time in conference openers, and are 24-9 in home SSC openers. It will be the eighth time they have opened their home SSC slate against Barry. The Mocs are 5-2 in the previous seven home SSC openers against the Bucs. In last season's home SSC opener, the Mocs fell to the Bucs, 63-58. Cashala Thompson (Tucson, Ariz.) and Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) led the team with 12 points each in the losing effort. FSC leads the all-time series over Barry, 42-15.
Fans can watch FSC take on Barry live online at: http://backlighttv.com/florida-southern-college/
Live stats vs. Barry will be available at: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=69477
