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JACKSON, Tenn. - Florida Southern used a 32 point fourth quarter here Saturday evening to rally from a 11 point deficit to post a 69-59 come-from-behind win over eighth-seeded Tampa in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament at Fred DeLay Gymnasium on the campus of Union University.
With the victory, the fourth-seeded Moccasins (26-5) advance to Monday night's regional championship game against No. 2 seeded and 11th-ranked Benedict. It will be just the third regional final appearance for the Mocs in school history and first since the 1996 squad fell 96-78 to Delta State in the championship game.
"I am so proud of the kids. For us to be down and for them to come back the way they did, they never stopped fighting," Moccasin head coach Betsy Harris said in the postgame press conference. "At halftime, we were down four and we shot the ball awful and didn't play good, but our defense was good. I told them at halftime that something good has to come out of this, we're playing hard and our shots weren't falling, but as long as we keep working and fighting, something good will come out of it and it did."
Saturday's game was the third meeting this season between the two Sunshine State Conference rivals as FSC swept both regular season meetings and has now won four straight games in the series against the Spartans.
In the fourth quarter, the two teams combined for 47 points, including FSC scoring a season 32 points in the final 10 minutes.
"We haven't scored that much in a quarter this year. That's a lot of points," said Harris when asked about her team's 32-point fourth quarter. "We were trying to figure out a how to score, the only thing I could think of was to put in five guards and take them (Tampa) to the hold and hopefully we could get a foul. The kids did a really good job doing that."
UT opened the final quarter by scoring the first five points to extend its 44-37 third quarter lead to 49-37 with 9:02 left in the game.
On UT's next trip down the court, Angela Alvarez was whistled for a charge and was then called for a technical foul and sophomore guard Jensen Blassage (Cherry Valley, Ill.) would hit both technical free throws to pull the Mocs within 10 at 49-39.
FSC would then use a 7-2 run capped by two free throws from freshman guard Camille Giardina (Sarasota, Fla.) to pull the Mocs within five at 51-46. UT would then score five of the next seven points to push its lead to 56-48 with 4:30 remaining.
The Mocs, though, used back-to-back treys from Giardina and freshman forward Anja Fuchs-Robetin (Vienna, Austria) to drop UT's lead to 56-54 with 3:19 remaining. The trey was just the fourth of the season for Fuchs-Robetin.
"Anja came up big with that 3-pointer and also took two huge charges on the other end of the floor," said Harris of Fuchs-Robetin, who led the Mocs with a team high 10 rebounds.
On the Spartans ensuing possession, Taylor McVey was called for a charge and then whistled for a technical and Blassage hit two free throws with 2:57 left to tie the game at 56.
Senior guard Shaquita Snow (Racine, Wis.) would hit two free throws with 2:48 left to take a 58-56 lead, but UT came right back and tied the game on a bucket in the lane by Ellen Nurmi.
Nurmi's basket seemed to light a fire under the Mocs as they scored seven consecutive points, including trey from Giardina, to take a 65-58 lead with 46 seconds remaining.
After Juliana Cavallaro hit 1-of-2 free throws with 40 seconds left, the Mocs would close the game by hitting four straight free throws to seal the victory. In fact, FSC was 17-for-18 from the free throw line in the final quarter.
"We stepped to the line and hit our free throws tonight, especially in the fourth quarter," said Harris, who is now 39-19 as the Mocs coach.
Snow paced three Mocs in double figures as she scored a career high 23 points, including going 11-for-13 from the line, while Blassage added 16 points and was 10-for-10 from the line.
The third double-digit scorer was Giardina, who finished with 11 points, including connecting on all three of her 3-point shot attempts.
In the third quarter, Giardina, who was named the SSC Freshman of the Year this season, hit a trey just 13 seconds in the quarter to drop UT's 25-21 halftime lead to 25-24, but the Spartans, who finished the year with a 20-13 record and ended the season winning seven of its final eight games, used a 6-2 run to push its lead to 31-26. The Mocs, though, would respond with an 11-2 run capped by a Snow lay-up to push the Mocs out to a 37-33 lead.
UT would close the quarter by scoring the final 11 points as Cavallaro and Alvarez scored all 11 of UT's points to take a 44-37 lead three quarters.
McVey led the way offensively for the Spartans in her final collegiate game as she tallied 17 points, including scoring 12 points in the first half and added 14 rebounds. In addition to McVey, Cavallaro had 16 points in her final collegiate game.
UT, who earned a spot in Saturday's regional semifinals after earning a 72-62 win on Friday over top-seed and region host Union, won both the first and third quarters in Saturday's game.
In the first quarter, UT outscored the Mocs, 19-8 and also outscored the Mocs, 19-16 in the third quarter.
The Mocs would rally in the second quarter as they outscored the Spartans, 13-6 to go into halftime trailing 25-21.
Harris said that the Spartans changed their attack in Saturday's game against the Mocs.
"They (UT) played us totally different than they did against Union the night before. They tried to get Mariah (Harris) in foul trouble as she played good against them the last time we faced them," Harris added. "So we had to change our game plan and it was two totally different games than how they played on Friday."
In fact, UT's loss on Saturday was the first for the Spartans since the Mocs collected a 57-55 win in Tampa on Feb. 17.
"I told the girls before the game that we started this with Tampa when we beat them that second time, it killed them, but they then got on a roll and really played welk," the Mocs coach said. "It was time for us to finish it and that's what we did. Our players dug dig tonight for this win."
FSC struggled to shoot the ball for the second straight game as they finished the game shooting 34 percent from the field and shot 38.5 percent (5-for-13) from the 3-point line. The Mocs also finished the game shooting 85 percent from the free throw line (28-for-33).
UT shot 40 percent from the field for the game and 29 percent from the 3-point line, but shot just 65 percent (13-for-20) from the line in the loss.
The Spartans held a 39-31 edge on the board, while FSC forced UT to turn the ball over 17 times that led to a 21-6 edge in points off turnovers. FSC had just nine turnovers in the game.
FSC will look to win just its second regional championship in school history on Monday, March 14 as they face Benedict in Monday's championship game, which is slated to begin at 8 p.m. Eastern. Benedict advanced to Monday's final with a 69-57 win over sixth-seeded and three-time reigning South Regional champion Nova Southeastern. FSC last won the South Regional championship in 1995 as they earned a 77-73 win over Valdosta State in Lakeland.
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