Box Score MIAMI SHORES - Florida Southern was held to a season low 54 points and outscored in the middle two quarters for only the second time this season as the 24th-ranked Moccasins were upset 62-54 to Barry in Sunshine State Conference action at the Health and Sports Center on the Barry University campus.
With the loss, the Mocs fell to 16-3 overall and 7-3 in the SSC, while Barry improved to 12-6 overall and 5-4 in the SSC.
"It's a disappointing loss tonight. We weren't ready to play and didn't perform well," Moccasin head coach Betsy Harris said. "We were outscored in both the second and third quarters and didn't shoot the ball very well."
For the game, the Mocs, who snapped its two game winning streak with the loss, shot a season low 27 percent from the field, including shooting 18 percent from the floor in the second quarter, a quarter that saw Barry outscore the Mocs, 25-13. In third quarter, Barry outscored the Mocs, 15-13 as the Mocs shot 29 percent from the field.
Ironically, the last time the Mocs were outscored in both the second and third quarters was against Florida Tech on Dec. 5 as the Panthers posted a 73-61 win over the Mocs in Lakeland.
In fact, five of FSC's seven second-half baskets came from behind the 3-point line, including going 4-for-8 from long distance in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore guard Jensen Blassage (Cherry Valley, Ill.) led the way for the Mocs with 13 points, while senior forward Gianna Vastola (Sarasota, Fla.) added 10 points off the bench in the loss. Vastola, though, was 1-for-11 from the floor on the night.
Junior guard Flo Ward (Salibury, England) and senior guard Shaquita Snow (Racine, Wis.) each had eight points, while senior forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) was held to seven points on five shots from the floor and added four boards. Harris, who entered the leading the Mocs in both scoring (14.1 ppg) and rebounding (6.2 rpg), played the game just three days after the death of her uncle in California.
The Moccasin coach said that one of the biggest differences in Wednesday's game was points in the paint as Barry held a 20-8 edge in that statistic for the game.
"We have got to do a better job in the paint than we did tonight," the Moc coach stated.
Barry was paced offensively by Amra Elezovic, who had 17 points, while Irene Sanchez added 15 points and had eight assists. The third double figure scorer for the Bucs was Ines Kerin as she had 12 points, including scoring all seven of them in the fourth quarter.
Barry scored the first points of the game on a trey from Elezovic, but the Mocs would respond by outscoring the Buccaneers, 12-4 the remainder of the quarter to take a 12-7 lead.
In the second quarter, the Bucs shot 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point and outscored the Mocs, 25-13 to take a 32-25 lead at the half.
After trailing 32-25 at the half, the Mocs opened the third quarter on a 9-7 run to pull within 39-34 following a lay-up by Blassage with 4:43 left in the quarter. The Bucs, though, closed the quarter on an 8-4 run to lead 47-37 after three quarters.
The Bucs grew to as much as 13 points in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter thanks to seven straight points from Kerin and a trey from Jackie Perez to take a 57-44 lead. FSC, though, would fight back as they used a 6-1 run keyed by back-to-back treys from Blassage and Snow to pull within 58-50.
Elezovic gave Barry a 60-50 lead with 2:10 left on two free throws. Snow would hit two free throws 18 seconds later to push the Mocs back within eight at 60-52 and the Mocs would then pull within six at 60-54 on two free throws by Vastola with 27 seconds left. Sanchez would cap the scoring with a lay-up with 18 seconds remaining.
Barry finished the game shooting 44 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.
FSC held a 36-32 edge on the board and forced Barry into 16 turnovers that led to 16 points. The Mocs committed 13 turnovers on the night.
The Mocs will return home to Jenkins Field House on Saturday, Jan. 30 as they host Saint Leo in a 5:30 p.m. game. FSC picked up an 82-73 win over the Lions at Saint Leo on Dec. 2.
