Box Score TAMPA - Florida Southern used a strong defensive effort here Wednesday evening to pick up its 20th win of the season as the Moccasins earned a 57-55 victory over Tampa in Sunshine State Conference action at the Martinez Athletics Center on the UT campus.
With the victory, which was sealed on a steal by senior forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) on a UT inbounds pass with three seconds left, the Mocs improved to 20-4 overall and 10-4 in the SSC. UT fell to 13-12 overall and 6-7 in the SSC.
"I am really proud of our team. Our defense won this game tonight," Moccasin head coach Betsy Harris said. "Our kids came up big. It was a great team effort."
Harris' steal, which came six seconds after she gave the Mocs a 56-55 lead on a lay-up. Harris would complete the game's scoring by hitting 1-of-2 free throws with three seconds remaining.
The Mocs had to rely on its defense in Wednesday's game as only five players scored in the game, including getting a combined 42 points from Harris and junior guard Flo Ward (Salisbury, England).
Harris finished the game with a career high 26 points and moved within 18 points of becoming the 20th Moccasin to score 1,000 career points, while Ward tallied a collegiate career high 16 points as she was 6-for-8 from the field, including going 4-for-5 from the 3-point line. Ward's previous collegiate career high was 15 set last season against Jacksonville while playing at UNF.
"Flo showed up at the right time for us," said the Moccasin coach, who is now 33-18 in her second year at the helm of the Mocs.
The Mocs needed those combined 42 points from Harris and Ward, as the next high scorer for the Mocs was sophomore guard Jensen Blassage (Cherry Valley, Ill.), who finished with nine points on 3-for-11 shooting from the field in the win.
Despite the victory, the Mocs, who snapped a two game road losing skid, struggled shooting the ball as they finished the game connecting on just 38 percent of its field goals (22-for-58) and shot 39 percent (5-for-13) from the 3-point line.
Another area where the Mocs struggled at on Wednesday was at the the free throw line as they hit just 8-of-14 attempts (57.1 percent). Harris was 6-for-12 at the line and Blassage was 2-for-2.
FSC came into the game second in the SSC and 19th nationally in free throw shooting at 76.1 percent.
While UT committed 14 turnovers, the Mocs had a season low three, including just one in the second half.
"We did an outstanding job of taking care of the basketball," the Mocs coach added.
UT, who lost its third straight game and was swept by the Mocs for the first time since the 2011-12 season, was paced offensively by Ellen Nurmi, who scored 19 points, including 11 of them in the second half. In addition to Nurmi, Juliana Cavallaro added 12 points, including five of the Spartans' 17 fourth quarter points.
The win also was the first the Mocs in the Harris coaching era when being held under 60 points in a game. The Mocs entered the contest with an 0-10 record when scoring 59 or fewer points in a game since Harris took over prior to the beginning of the 2014-15 season.
UT shot 46 percent from the field and 44 percent from the 3-point on the night and held a 36-27 edge on the boards.
FSC, who lost the first quarter, 8-7, rebounded to outscore the Spartans, 19-16 in the second quarter to take a 26-24 halftime lead. In the second quarter, Harris, Ward and junior forward Gianna Vastola (Sarasota, Fla.) did all the scoring for the Mocs as Harris had nine, Ward scored six and Vastola finished with four points.
The Spartans outscored the Mocs, 14-10 in the third quarter to take a 38-36 lead after three quarters. Nurmi scored nine of UT's 14 points in the period.
FSC, though, would respond by outscoring the Spartans, 21-17 in the fourth quarter, including Harris scoring 12 of her 26 points in the period.
The Mocs will step out of SSC play for the final time in the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 20 as they return to Jenkins Field House to host Embry-Riddle in a 5:30 p.m. contest. The Mocs picked up an 87-71 win over the Eagles in Daytona Beach on Jan. 6.
