Box Score DAYTONA BEACH - The third time was not the charm here Saturday evening for Florida Southern as the No. 3 seeded Moccasins fell 71-62 to No. 2 Florida Tech in the semifinal round of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament held at the ICI Center on the campus of Embry-Riddle University.
Saturday's loss was the third this season to the Panthers by the Mocs as Florida Tech swept both regular season meetings and they have now won seven straight games in the series. Florida Tech is the only SSC team that second year Moccasin head coach Betsy Harris has yet to defeat.
"I wish we would've played better, but for some reason, Florida Tech has our number. We struggle shooting the ball, we don't rebound the ball very well against them," said the Moccasin head coach in the postgame press conference. "I thought we would have a little bit more motivation coming in here, but Florida Tech came in here tonight and gave a little more effort as it was shown on the court. It's just disappointing seeing that, because you would think we would come in wiht a little bit more effort to go out there and play and prove ourselves against them."
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With its win, Florida Tech advances to Sunday's championship game as they will face No. 5 seeded Tampa, who earn a spot in the title game following its 72-63 win over No. 1 seeded Nova Southeastern.
"It should be a really good game tomorrow between Tampa and Florida Tech," the Moccasin coach added. "It's disappointing that we're not playing, but hopefully we get to continue our season next week in regionals."
The Mocs, who fell to 24-5 overall with its loss and also snapped its six game win streak in the process, are expected to earn an at-large berth in this year's NCAA South Regional Tournament when the field of 64 teams is unveiled tomorrow night on www.NCAA.com. The Mocs were ranked fourth in last week's most recent Division II South Regional rankings. (Click here for link to NCAA selection show)
Senior forward Mariah Harris (Gainesville, Fla.) led the way offensively for the Mocs as she finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Prior to the 17 point performance on Saturday, Harris had scored a total of 18 points over her previous four games and has now tallied 1,017 career points, which is 19th on the school's all-time list.
In addition to Harris, freshman guard Camille Giardina (Sarasota, Fla.) added 15 points and senior guard Sydni Payne (Conyers, Ga.) had 12 points in the loss.
Saturday's loss come down to the Mocs inability to play defense, especially in the second half and rebound the basketball.
The Panthers, who are seeking its all-time SSC Tournament title, outscored the Mocs, 42-28 in the second hald and were outrebounded, 41-27, including 15-8 on the offensive boards.
"We didn't play defense tonight. They outscored us 22-12 in the third quarter and also by 14 points in the second half. You can't win a lot of ballgames like that," said Coach Harris. "They seemed to take advantage of every opportunity we gave them tonight and that is just really frustrating."
Florida Tech, who trailed 34-29 at the halftime, would open the third quarter on a 13-4 run to take a 42-38 lead.
After a three-pointer from Payne brought the Mocs within a point at 42-41 with 5:39 left in the period, Tech would close the quarter on a 10-5 run to take a 51-46 lead after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, FSC mounted a comeback as they opened the final period on a 9-5 run to tie the game at 55 with 7:13 remaining. After the teams traded three-point baskets, the Panthers used a 7-3 run capped by four straight points from Tiesha Flagler to take a 65-58 lead with 3:55 remaining.
The Mocs, though, refused to go away as they responded by scoring four straight points to pull within 65-52 with 2:25 remaining. The run began with a lay-up from freshman forward Anja Fuchs-Robetin (Vienna, Austria) and was capped by two free throws from Harris.
On the ensuing Panthers possession, Payne nearly came away with a steal at midcourt, but she couldn't hold onto the ball and it went out of bounds and helping FIT maintain possession with three seconds on the shot clock. FIT would then inbound the ball and Shequana Harris banked in a trey from the top of the key as the shot clock expired to give the Panthers a 68-62 lead with 1:03 left in game.
The Panthers would hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 25 seconds to set the final margin.
FSC didn't score any points over the 2:25 of the game following Harris' two free throws.
Florida Tech was paced offensive on the night by Harris as she finished with 21 points and added eight boards. In three games this season, Harris has scored a total of 57 points and is averaging 19.0 points per game.
"Harris just made plays tonight for Florida Tech. She has killed us all season and tonight was no different," the Mocs coach added.
Along with Harris, Flagler added 13 points for the Panthers, while Kailyn Ebb and Diamond Cooper each had nine points. Julie McCarthy led the way on the boards for the FIT as she had nine, including seven offensive boards.
The Mocs won the first quarter 18-13 and the two teams played to a 16-all tie in the second quarter to help give the Mocs its 34-29 lead at the half.
For the game, the Mocs shot 40 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line, while Tech shot 46 percent from the floor and 75 percent (3-for-4) from the 3-point line.
The Panthers scored 21 points off of 10 Moccasin turnovers, including 11 points off six first half turnovers. FIT had 14 turnovers on the night.
Both teams made a living at the free throw line as they combined for 48 free throws on the night, including the Mocs going 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) at the line, while the Panthers went 18-for-27 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
