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JACKSON, Tenn. - Florida Southern will see a familiar foe on the other side of the court here Saturday evening as the fourth-seeded Moccasins will face eighth-seeded Tampa in the second of two semifinal games at the 2016 NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament at Fred DeLay Gymnasium on the campus of Union University.
Saturday's meeting will be the third this season between the two Sunshine State Conference rivals as the Moccasins swept both regular season meetings as they earned a 71-67 win in Lakeland on Jan. 3 and then collected a 57-55 win in Tampa on Feb. 17. FSC leads the all-time series, 58-34 and has won three straight games since UT earned a 63-52 win in Tampa on 63-52.
"It will be our third time playing Tampa this season," Moccasin head coach Betsy Harris said following Friday's quarterfinal game against Kentucky State. "We them at their place the last time we played and I know it was a heartbreaker for them and ever since that game, they have been on a roll."
The Moccasins, who improved to 7-4 all-time in first round NCAA Tournament games following its 61-50 victory in Friday's quarterfinals against fifth-seeded Kentucky State, come into Saturday's game sporting a 25-5 overall record and they have won seven of their last eight games and nine of its l11 games overall with the only two losses coming to Florida Tech. The Mocs will be making its eighth appearance in a regional semifinal game and its first since falling 67-63 to Valdosta State in 2012. FSC is 2-5 all-time in regional semifinal games and have lost four straight regional semifinal games since earning a 97-93 win over Central Arkansas in 1996.
Meanwhile, Tampa comes into Saturday's game as one of the hottest in Division II women's basketball as the Spartans, who finished fifth in the SSC with a 9-7 record, have won seven straight games since its two-point home loss to FSC on Feb. 17. Among their wins were two last weekend against Nova Southeastern (73-63) and Florida Tech (68-59) to claim the SSC Tournament Championship and earn the SSC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
UT earned a third match-up this season with the Mocs in Saturday's regional semifinal following its 72-62 upset of No. 1 seeded and ninth-ranked Union University in Friday's third regional quarterfinal game. In that win, the Spartans shot 52 percent from the field and 55 percent from the 3-point line (11-for-20) in the win over Union.
"They (UT) are playing great right now and I hope we can match their play tomorrow night and hopefully play better than we did against Kentucky State," the Moccasin coach said. "UT is a tough, well-coached team. Everyone in our conference expected this from them, it just took them awhile to get there."
The winner of the FSC-Tampa regional semifinal game will advance to Monday's regional final to face the winner of Saturday's other regional semifinal match-up between No. 2 seeded Benedict (28-2) and No. 6 seeded Nova Southeastern (24-6). Those two teams will open Saturday's action with a 6 p.m. Eastern game.
FSC and UT have met just two times previously in the NCAA Tournament as the Mocs fell to UT in their most recent meeting in 2003 first round (62-55) in Russellville, Ark., but the Mocs earned a 70-68 overtime win in the first round of the 2000 Tournament in Cleveland, Miss.
