Box Score SAINT LEO – The Florida Southern women's basketball team won an 81-80 thriller on the road against Saint Leo in their second Sunshine State Conference game of the season Wednesday night.
Sophomore Morgan Siebka (Slippery Rock, Pa.) gave the Moccasins (8-3, 2-0 SSC) the one-point lead on a layup with less than 30 seconds left in regulation.
The Lions (5-7, 0-3 SSC) held the ball on the ensuing possession, preparing to attempt a game-winner on the final shot, but freshman guard Mary Redmond committed an offensive foul with 10.3 seconds remaining.
Saint Leo had one last opportunity with the clock expiring, but Monique Bunk's layup bounded off the rim.
"I'm proud of the girls," said FSC head coach Betsy Harris. "With hard work you're going to get luck. These girls have been working really hard and as long as you work your butt off it comes with some luck.
"I have to commend Saint Leo. They did not give up. They're a good team. Of course every team we play is going to be good. I am really proud of our girls for holding them off."
In a game that featured plenty of offense on both sides, Florida Southern tied its season high with 81 points while recording a season-best 35 field goals and a 51.5 field-goal percentage. Five different players finished with double-digit points for the Mocs.
FSC's two leading returners from a year ago turned in their best performances of the season. Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) netted a team-high 14 points while Ali Sanders (Sleepy Hollow, Ill.) had 11, both season highs for the juniors.
"I don't know if it has taken them a while to get used to the new system, but they were two of the main players last year," Harris said. "If we can just get them playing like this every night, it's going to make this team a whole lot better."
After being held without a basket in Saturday's win over Barry, sophomore forward Christin Strawbridge (Lakeland, Fla.) finished with her second double-double of the season, tying her career-high with 13 boards in addition to 12 points.
Flexing their muscle down low, the Mocs outrebounded the Lions 42-28 and outscored them 52-31 in the paint.
Despite the impressive numbers, the Moccasin offense struggled early. The Lions' pressure defense, in addition to some unforced giveaways, resulted in 10 turnovers in the first 13 minutes of action.
"I told them to just stop being nervous or scared," Harris said. "We looked like we had the pressure on us. We're the team that's supposed to be everybody's easy win, we were picked to finish last in the conference in the preseason, so there's no pressure on us. We've got to stop bringing the pressure upon us."
The Mocs struck first and took a four-point lead on consecutive layups from Strawbridge and Sydni Payne (Conyers, Ga.), respectively. Payne, Sanders and Gianna Vastola (Sarasota, Fla.) scored three straight buckets and gave the Mocs a five-point lead, 16-11, at 11:41.
Saint Leo responded with a 10-3 run over the next four-plus minutes. Chachi Guzman netted the first three points of the run on an and-one play, and then Melissa Jackson ended the run with a 3-pointer as the Lions went ahead by two, 21-19.
FSC took a 33-31 lead into the locker room at the half. Freshman guard Jensen Blassage (Rockford, Ill.) thought she gave the Mocs another five-point lead to end the opening period with a jumper as the clock wound under 10 seconds, but Guzman hit her third trey as the clock expired. The Saint Leo junior guard was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc; Saint Leo was 11-for-21 (52.4 percent) as a team.
Guzman scored a game-high 25 points for the Lions. She was 7-for-13 from the field and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.
Blassage and Sanders paired up to give the Mocs their largest lead of the second half. A Sanders steal led to a Blassage jumper on the other end, and on the following Saint Leo possession, the freshman stole the ball from Bunk and fed Sanders on the two-on-one, making it 57-46 with 10:27 remaining.
The Lions didn't go down without a fight. They were 11-for-15 from the field in the last eight minutes and four of those baskets were from 3-point range. Bunk tied the game at 78 with a trey with 1:35 remaining. Jackson scored the go-ahead points 16 seconds later, setting up Siebka for her game-winner.
"I'm disappointed in our defense," Harris said. "We did score a lot of points, thank goodness. If we hadn't of had that shooting percentage, if we would have just one percent below that, we would have lost that game. But because we shot so well, we won."
Florida Southern will pay a visit to the Nova Southeastern Sharks in Davie, Fla., in their next game on Saturday, Jan. 10. The SSC affair is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.
