Box Score LAKELAND – Mariah Harris posted game highs of 19 points and eight rebounds to power Florida Southern to a 74-50 win over Rollins in Sunshine State Conference action here Wednesday night. The senior forward now has 956 points in her quest to become the 20th member of the Moccasin 1,000 point club. Her eight rebounds gives her 588 on her career, moving into a tie with Angie Norman (1986-89) for 13th place on the FSC all-time rebounding list.
The win gives Moccasin Head Coach Betsy Harris her 100th career victory. Her career coaching record is now 100-45 over her five seasons as a collegiate head coach, combining her record of 68-27 in three years at College of Coastal Georgia with her 32-18 record at Florida Southern.
"I'm glad to get it out of the way," said Coach Harris. "Now I'm at 100, maybe we can talk about 200 in the next five years."
Rollins (9-12 overall and 4-8 in the SSC) opened the game with a brief 5-2 lead as Julie Ingler hit a three-pointer for the first points of the game and then added a pair of free throws. On the other side, Harris hit four-of-four throws for Florida Southern (19-4 and 9-4 in the SSC) while Flo Ward hit a try to put the Mocs ahead 7-3 just under three minutes into the contest.
Marie Gilbert then hit on a three-point play to give the Tars a one-point lead, 8-7, at the 6:15 mark. Florida Southern closed out the first period on a 12-6 run to take a 19-14 lead. Gilbert would start the second half with a jumper and a three-pointer in the first minute to tie the game at 19-19 for the Tars. Gianna Vastola scored on a jumper while Jensen Blassage followed with a three-pointer to spark a 16-6 run for the Moccasins with Harris scoring 10 of the Mocs' next 12 points to give Florida Southern a 35-25 lead at intermission.
"I thought we were a little flat," said Coach Harris, "but the girls kept at it, just scoring points."
The Moccasins came out firing to open the second half, scoring the first 11 points with Sydni Payne getting it started with a three-pointer. Harris followed with a jumper while Camille Giardina scored back-to-back baskets and Blassage capped the run with another jumper for a 46-25 lead. Over the end of the first period and the start of the second, Florida Southern outscored Rollins 27-6 over an 11-minute span.
"I thought we played good defense in the third quarter," said Coach Harris. "I told the players they have to use this game to get better since we have Tampa at Tampa next Wednesday."
Rollins was held scoreless for the first 6:17 and was held to one field goal in the opening 8:58, scoring on just eight free throws. Florida Southern closed the game strong, outscoring Rollins 18-9 in the final period.
Giardina finished with 15 points for Florida Southern while Blassage added nine and Payne contributed eight points. The Moccasins shot 44.3 percent from the field, including an 8-of-16 effort from behind the three-point stripe and made 12-of-17 free throws.
The Tars were led by Gilbert who matched Harris for game-high honors at 19 points while Ingler added 10 points. Ingler and Carly McLendon each had six boards for the Tars.
Rollins also committed 17 turnovers which the Moccasins turned into 19 points. The Tars did win the rebound battle with a 45-47 margin on the boards.cLendon each led Rollins with six rebounds while Gilbert and Jasmine Stone each pulled down five boards. Rollins was limited to just 26.3 from the floor and was 15-of-15 from the charity stripe.
Florida Southern turned the ball over just eight times in the game, including just three times in the first half.
"Let's hope we can keep that up," said Coach Harris. "You're going to win a lot of games when you keep your turnovers low and your assists are high (17 the night) because you shared the ball and you're playing together as a team."
The win was Florida Southern's 48 against 44 losses in the series against Rollins and was the Mocs' ninth straight home win of the season to improve their home record to 13-1 on the year.
Florida Southern has the weekend off from competition before returning to action next Wednesday at the University of Tampa.
