Box Score ST. PETERSBURG - Florida Southern hit 9-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold off a late rally by Eckerd en route to earning a 67-62 victory over the Tritons in Sunshine State Conference action at McArthur Court.
With the victory, the Moccasins secured the No. 3 seed in next week's SSC Tournament and will host the No. 6 seed in a first round game on Wednesday, March 2 at Jenkins Field House beginning at 7 p.m. The win also helped the Mocs improve to 22-4 overall and 11-4 in the SSC.
"It is never easy to win in this league, especially on the road. Every team is well prepared and well coached," Moccasin head coach Betsy Harris said. "I am proud of the girls tonight. It was a good road win for our team."
In the fourth quarter, the Mocs tallied just 12 points, including hitting just one of its 10 field goal attempts, which was a trey from senior guard Sydni Payne (Conyers, Ga.) less than two minutes into the final quarter. Payne's trey gave the Mocs a 58-50 lead.
Following Payne's trey, the Tritons, who were playing their final home game of the season, used an 8-3 run to pull within 61-58 with 2:22 left in the game.
The Mocs, though, would hit four straight free throws to push its lead to 65-58 with 12 seconds left in the game. After Margaret Sundberg brought the Tritons (12-12 overall, 6-9 SSC) within five at 65-60 with 8.3 seconds remaining, senior guard Shaquita Snow (Racine, Wis.) hit two free throws with 7.8 seconds left to give the Mocs a 67-60 lead. Chelsea Johnson would cap the scoring on a lay-up right before the buzzer.
"We stepped up and hit our free throws tonight and that is something we've done well all season," said the Moccasin coach.
Sophomore guard Jensen Blassage (Cherry Valley, Ill.) led the way with 20 points. In addition to Blassage, freshman forward Anja Fuchs-Robetin (Vienna, Austria) added a career-high 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
Payne was the third Moccasin in double digits as she finished with 10 points in the win.
Trailing 38-32 at the half, Eckerd opened the third quarter on a 5-2 run to pull within 40-37. The Mocs, though, would respond with a 10-2 run to push its lead to 50-39 with 4:06 left in the quarter. Blassage and Fuchs-Robetin combined to score nine of their 10 points.
After Sundberg hit a trey with 3:51 left in the quarter to drop FSC's lead to 50-42, the Mocs would close out the quarter by outscoring the Tritons, 5-4, to take a 55-46 lead after three quarters.
"Anja really stepped up tonight. We expect that from her every day," said Harris, who is now 35-18 in her second season at the helm of the Mocs.
Blassage and Fuchs-Robetin's offense was needed on Wednesday as the Tritons held senior forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) to a season low tying five points. It was her second straight game of scoring five points as she also had five points in the Mocs 67-56 home win Saturday against Embry-Riddle. With her five points, Harris moves within eight points of becoming the 20th Moccasin to record 1,000 career points.
Sundberg led the way for Eckerd as she had 15 points, while Juday added 10 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
Eckerd jumped out to 18-9 lead seven minutes into the game, before the Mocs closed the first quarter by outscoring the Tritons, 11-0 to take a 20-18 lead after the opening 10 minutes. Blassage and Fuchs-Robetin combined for nine of FSC's 11 points.
The Mocs, who are ranked sixth in this week's latest NCAA Division II South Regional rankings, lead would grow to as much as eight points just a little over five minutes into the second quarter, before Eckerd used a 7-1 run to pull within 32-30 with 2:16 left in the quarter. FSC, though, would score six of the final eight points of the quarter to take its 38-32 halftime lead.
Blassage and Fuchs-Robetin combined to score 25 of the Mocs 38 first half points.
The Mocs finished the game shooting 33 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-point line, while Eckerd shot 46 percent from the floor and 26 percent from long distance.
Eckerd held a 34-33 edge on the glass, but the Mocs forced 14 Triton turnovers that led to 18 points. FSC committed just eight turnovers on the night.
One big advantage for the Mocs on the night was at the free throw line as the Mocs outshot the Tritons, 27-6. FSC went 22-for-27 (81.5 percent) at the line, while Eckerd was 3-for-6 (50 percent). The Mocs were 15-for-18 from the line in the second half.
The Mocs will conclude the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 27 as they host 18th-ranked Nova Southeastern (22-4 overall, 13-2 SSC) for Senior Night at Jenkins Field House. The Sharks, who were idle on Wednesday, are the regular season SSC champions and will be the No. 1 seed in the SSC Tournament. In the first meeting earlier this season in Davie, the Mocs suffered an 81-79 setback in overtime to the Sharks.
