COMPLETE MOCCASIN NOTES
MOCCASIN QUICK NOTES
*- This is the 38th season of Moccasin women's basketball.
* - Florida Southern entered the 2014-15 season with a 647-355 all-time record in its previous 37 seasons of women's basketball.
* - The Moccasins have won 11 regular season Sunshine State Conference titles and another 10 SSC Postseason Tournament championships.
* - The Mocs began the 2014-15 campaign with a 75-67 win over Georgia College and a 62-49 win over Flagler, both members of the Peach Belt Conference, in the Spartan Challenge Tournament hosted by the University of Tampa on Nov. 14-15.
* - It was the first time the Mocs began the season with a 2-0 record since the 2011-12 season. That year, they won six consecutive games to open the season.
* - FSC has played eight of its 14 games inside Jenkins Field House. It is 5-3 at home so far in 2014-15, more than doubling its home win total from a year ago.
* - The Mocs are now 22-12 all-time in Sunshine State Conference openers after defeating Barry in the first league game of 2014-15 on Jan. 3 by a final of 70-67.
* - The Mocs opened the Sunshine State Conference slate at 2-0. The last time they began 2-0 inside the SSC was the 2012-13 season.
* - After losing to Eastern New Mexico University on Dec. 18 in the FSC/Terrace Hotel Classic Opener, the Mocs won three straight games, tied for the longest win streak of the season.
* - However, they are currently on a three-game losing streak, the longest of the season.
* - All three losses during the current losing streak have been by double-digit points.
* - Two of those losses came at the hands of a ranked opponent: No.11 Nova Southeastern on Jan. 10 and No. 16 Florida Tech on Jan. 17.
* - Betsy Harris is the seventh head coach in FSC women's basketball history.
* - Harris is the fourth head coach to win their debut with the Mocs and only the second to win their FSC and SSC debuts, joining FSC Hall of Famer and the program's all-time winningest coach, Norm Benn.
LAST TIME OUT
Florida Southern gave No. 16 Florida Tech a run for its money but the undefeated Panthers pulled away with a strong finish in their 80-60 victory Saturday at Jenkins Field House. The Moccasins (8-6, 2-3 SSC) led for most of the first half and trailed by a few as four points midway through the second half. The Panthers (15-0, 5-0 SSC) assembled a 31-15 run in the final 9:30 to widen the margin to 20 points. Junior forward Mariah Harris paced all scorers with 21 points, having earned her first start of the season after leading the Mocs with 19 on Jan. 14 against Eckerd. She went 9-for-12 from the floor and pulled down a season-best nine rebounds. Sophomore forward Christin Strawbridge was a point away from a double-double, scoring nine to go along with a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior Cashala Thompson went 2-for-4 from 3-point range. He two treys gave her sole possession of seventh place on the program's all-time list for career 3-pointers with 94. She needs one more to tie Stacey Ungashick (1989-93) for sixth place. Turnovers plagued the Moccasin offense all night. They coughed the ball up 23 times and surrendered a season-worst 32 points off of those turnovers.
MARIAH MEANS BUSINESS
Junior foward Mariah Harris is leading the Moccasin offense through the first five games of league play. The Gainesville, Fla., native is averaging a team-high 13.4 points per game over the last five contests. In her last game out against No. 16 Florida Tech, Harris scored a season-high 21 points, the most by a Moc this season. She also had a season-high nine rebounds. Against Eckerd on Ja. 14, she scored 19 points, and was 8-for-9 from the field. Harris also dished out a season-high four assists and pulled fown six rebounds. She averaged 17.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals in two games last season against Tampa.
STREAKY
After tying their season-best with a three-game win streak from Dec. 19 to Jan. 7, the Mocs now find themselves on the losing end of a three-game streak. Offensively, FSC averaged 77.3 points per game over the most recent win streak, twice scoring a season-high 81 points (vs. Molloy on Dec. 19 and at Saint Leo on Jan. 7). On the other hand, it is scoring only 62.3 points per game over the losing stretch.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
Tampa enters the contest at a record of 10-5 on the season, while being 3-2 in conference play. The Spartans enter the game on a two game winning streak with victories over Saint Leo and Palm Beach Atlantic. Last time out, Tampa defeated Palm Beach Atlantic, 64-39. The Spartans held the Sailfish to a 24.2 field goal percentage (15-for-62). They also outrebounded the Sailfish, 49-to-31. Junior guard Juliana Cavallaro and junior forward Angela Alvarez each scored 15 points to lead the Spartans. All 15 of Cavallaro's points came off the 3-point shot; she was 5-for-10 from beyond the arc. Alvarez pulled down 11 rebounds for the double-double.
Cavallaro leads the way for the Spartans as she is averaging 15.2 points per game, third-most in the SSC, along with 5.7 rebounds, 14th in the conference. She is also shooting 42.5 percent (31-for-73) from downtown and is good for an 81.6 free throw percentage (71-for-87.). She was twice named the SSC Player of the Week, coming in back-to-back weeks on Dec. 1 and Dec. 8. Last season, the Spartans reached the NCAA South Regional Tournament championship game for the first time in school history, but fell to the Nova Southeastern Sharks, 56-53. Tampa entered 2014-15 as the favorite to win the Sunshine State Conference in the SSC Women's Basketball Coaches Poll. They began the season ranked 14th in NCAA Division II and reached as high as fifth in the nation.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. UT
Wednesday's game will be the 89th all-time meeting between Florida Southern and Tampa. The Mocs lead the all-time series against the Spartans, 55-33. They hold a 27-14 advantage at home, 23-18 in road games and 5-1 in neutral site games since the series began in 1978. Tampa swept the two-games series over the last two seasons and are on a four-game win streak, their longest of the series. In 2013-14, the Spartans defeated the Mocs in Lakeland, 72-62, and in Tampa, 69-45. FSC's last win over Tampa came on Feb. 29, 2012 in the first round of the SSC Tournament by a final score of 79-63.
