Moccasin Game Notes vs. Nova Southeastern
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 six of its first 11 games of the season inside Jenkins Field House. It is 5-1 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 have opened the Sunshine State Conference slate at 2-0. The last time they began 2-0 inside the SSC was the 2012-13 season.
* - Since losing to Eastern New Mexico University on Dec. 18 in the FSC/Terrace Hotel Classic Opener, the Mocs have won three straight games, tied for the longest win streak of the season.
* - Offensively, FSC is averaging 77.3 points per game and is shooting 47.6 percent (88-for-185) from the field during the three-game win streak. It is also outrebounding its opponents by 11 per game (41.7 to 30.7).
* - Individually, junior guard Sydni Payne (12.7), sophomore forward Gianna Vastola (12.0) and junior forward Mariah Harris (11.0) are averaging double figures over the current three-game win streak.
# - 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.
MOCS CONCLUDE TWO-GAME ROAD SWING SATURDAY AT NOVA SOUTHEASTERN
Florida Southern (8-3 overall, 2-0 SSC) is set to conclude its two-game road trip to open the road portion of its 2014-15 SSC schedule on Saturday, Jan. 10 with a 2 p.m. contest in the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center (4,500) against No. 11 Nova Southeastern (10-2 overall, 2-1 SSC). Saturday's game will mark the third conference game of the season for the Mocs, their second consecutive road game in the 2015 calendar year and just their fourth game away from home on the season. The game will be the first of a doubleheader at NSU as the seventh-ranked Moccasin men (12-1, 1-1 SSC) face the NSU men (5-6, 1-2 SSC) at 4 p.m.
The Mocs won a nail-biter on the road in Saint Leo Wednesday night. The Lions stormed back from an 11-point deficit to take a 80-79 lead with 1:19 left on the clock. Sophomore guard Morgan Siebka scored what turned out to be the game-winner with 26.2 seconds left, giving the Mocs an 81-80 lead. The Lions' offense was setting up to attempt the last shot of the game but freshman Mary Redmond was tagged with an offensive foul. Sophomore forward Christin Strawbridge missed a layup on the ensuing possession, giving the Lions one last chance, but Monique Bunk's layup bounced off the rim as time expired.
The Moccasin offense tied its season-high with 81 points as five different players scored double-figure points, led by junior forward Mariah Harris with 14 points and sophomore forward Christin Strawbridge with 12 points. Junior guard Ali Sanders had 11 points while both Gianna Vastola and Sydni Payne netted 10 points.
BLAST FROM THE PAST
Juniors Ali Sanders and Mariah Harris entered the season as the two top returning scorers from 2013-14. Sanders started all 27 games and averaged 10.7 points while Harris made 24 starts and scored 10.4 points with 7.0 rebounds per game. While the duo hadn't seen the same success in 2014-15, they both turned in their best performances of the season against Saint Leo.
Prior to Wednesday's contest, Sanders was averaging a mere 2.9 points and was shooting 22.2 percent (8-for-36). The guard from Sleepy Hollow, Ill., was only 1-for-20 from 3-point range. She broke out of her season-long slump with season highs in minutes played (24), points (11), field goals (five), rebounds (four) and steals (three).
Harris missed the first game of the season against Georgia College on Nov. 14 while recovering from an offseason injury. She was limited in her first three games, but netted 13 points and seven rebounds against Embry-Riddle on Nov. 29. The Gainesville, Fla., native also scored 11 in the win over Molloy on Dec. 19, but her 14 points in Saint Leo are a season-high. Harris scored all of her points in the second half. She also pulled down five rebounds. Her 23 minutes of action were a season-high.
500TH CAREER POINT FOR HARRIS
Mariah Harris' sixth point against Saint Leo on Wednesday was the 500th of her FSC career. She leads all active Mocs with 508 career points, 385 rebounds, 198 field goals and 63 games played. In her career, Harris averages 7.9 points and 6.0 rebounds, and is shooting 46.6 percent (198-425) from the field.
PAYNE PICKING UP THE POINT
Junior guard Sydni Payne has made four consecutive starts at point guard, replacing junior transfer Shaquita Snow, who is out with a knee injury. As a starter, Payne is averaging a team-best 11.1 points per game as opposed to her 5.8 points per game in the four contests she has entered off the bench. Her shooting percentage as a starter is over .200 higher; she is 28-for-60 (46.7 percent) from the field as a starter and only 8-for-31 (25.8 percent) off the bench. In the four games since taking over for Snow, Payne is averaging 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
FSC-NSU SERIES
Saturday's game with Nova Southeastern will be the 31st all-time meeting between the two schools. The Sharks lead the series, 16-14. The Mocs are 7-6 all-time at home against Nova Southeastern and 6-9 on the road. They are also a 1-1 on neutral courts.
The Sharks swept the two-game series from the Moccasins last season. NSU became the first team to top 100 points in the series with a 110-65 win at home on Dec. 7, 2013. The Sharks' 19 3-pointers and 110 points set program records. The 45-point scoring margin is the largest of the series. The Sharks entered the contest ranked fourth in the nation. In Lakeland, then-No. 5 NSU topped the Mocs, 69-68, on Feb. 1, 2014 in the second game of the season series. Forward Christin Strawbridge led the Mocs with 15 points in each game vs. the Sharks in 2013-14 as a freshman. She also averaged 6.0 rebounds per game against NSU.
The series began in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 20,1999 with a 67-58 Moccasin victory.
