Box Score LAKELAND - Seniors Shaquita Snow and Mariah Harris combined for 22 second half points as Florida Southern overcame a 37-31 halftime deficit to top Tampa, 71-67, in Sunshine State Conference action Saturday at Jenkins Field House here on the FSC campus. The win is the fourth in a row by the Moccasins.
Snow led the comeback with 12 second-half points while Harris added 10 as the Moccasins, ranked 22nd in the D2SIDA national poll, improve to 12-1 overall and 4-1 in the SSC. The Spartans fall to 6-7 and 0-4 in the league.
The two teams battled back and forth in the first period with each team taking the lead on three occasions. The period also featured six tied scores.
The Spartans opened the second period on a 7-0 run in the opening 1:24 behind five points from Elena de Alfredo to grab a 26-19 lead. Tampa pushed the lead to 29-20 on a Candace Martino three-point at the 4:34 mark.
Florida Southern twice cut the Tampa lead to three points, the first on a three-pointer by Snow at 2:23 and again at 1:43 on a trey by Bailey Florin, but Tampa would take a 37-31 lead at intermission.
"We didn't play as a team in the first half. On the defensive end or the offensive end," said Florida Southern head coach Betsy Harris.
"Tampa did a really good job," said Coach Harris. "They're much better than what their record shows."
The third period looked like much of the same as Tampa expanded its lead to 10, 41-31, at the 6:30 mark. The Moccasins battled back to eventually the the game at 51-all on a Jensen Blassage jumper with three ticks remaining in the period. The basket gave her six points in the period. Florida Souhern's defense also forced five turnovers in the third ten minutes.
Snow and Harris then went to work, each netting seven points in the final period. A layup by Harris 26 seconds into the fourth period gave the Moccasins a brief two point lead, 53-51. The two squads traded the lead six more times before Florida Soouthern took the lead for good on a pair of free throws when Tampa Coach Tom Jessee was whistled for a technical foul with 5:17 to go.
The Spartans pulled with one, 68-67, on a pair of free throws by Karma Alfredo, but Snow answered with a pair of charity shots of her own with 24 seconds left. Snow helped ice the win with a steal and two free throws with seven seconds remaining.
"The thing I'm proud about is, we were able to fight back and come back to win against a quality team," said Coach Harris.
"I think the whole team was trying too hard," said Coach Harris. "It took them to halftime to really sit back and think about it. Tampa was switching everything. Once they realized what they could against that, I think it calmed them down and they were able to play better as a team."
Snow finished with a career-high 21 points while Harris turned in 16 points, one shy of her season-high. In addition, Blassage was also in double figures with 12 points.
Tampa placed four players in double figures as de Alfredo and Juliana Cavallaro each had 14 points while Taylor McVey and Jeremie added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Florida Southern shot 42 percent from the field while Tampa made 44.2 percent of its shots. A big difference came at the free throw line where the Moccasins made 25-of-28 attempts (including an 8-for-8 effort from Sydni Payne) while the Spartans connected on 16-of-21.
Tampa won the battle of the boards, 34-28, behind nine rebounds by Cavallaro, but committed 16 turnovers compared to just eight by Florida Southern.
Florida Southern hits the road Wednesday for a non-conference game at Embry-Riddle at 5:30 p.m. before returning to SSC action Saturday, Jan. 9 at home against Eckerd.
