Florida Southern College men's and women's basketball will close out the 2021 calendar year with a Sunshine State Conference matchup with Rollins Friday, Dec. 31. A quick bye will see the Moccasins return to action on January 5 before heading down SSC play only for January and February and look to make a push for postseason play.
The women will take on Rollins at 2 p.m. at Streamline Sale Arena inside George W. Jenkins Field House Friday after posting a 4-6 record through the first 10 games. The Mocs are sitting tied for fifth in the league at 2-2 with conference wins over Florida Tech and Palm Beach Atlantic.
Whitney Jacob leads the women's team in scoring through the first 10 played with 181 total points, 18.1 per game. The Parker, Colo. native sits second in the league in scoring per game behind just Saint Leo's Amanda Ulrich (18.3). Jacob holds a .537 shooting percentage from the floor with a .421 mark from beyond the arc. She also averages 6.5 rebounds per game on the young season. In conference-only play, Jacob is currently averaging 15.5 ppg on .510-percent shooting from the field.
Julia Jenike is second on the team in scoring average with 10.7 ppg and the team leader in free throw percentage at .933, having missed just one free throw this season.
Florida Southern's men's team will take on the Tars at 4 p.m. Friday and look to move up in the league standings after going 2-2 in the first four games with wins over Palm Beach Atlantic and Lynn. The Mocs enter the final game of December at 5-7.
Xavier Rhodes leads the Mocs in scoring with 15.3 ppg with 168 total points on the year.
E.J. Dambreville is fourth on the team in scoring but averages a double-double with his 11.5 rebounds per game average and 11.6 ppg. Rhodes is the team leader in scoring and holds a .481 shooting percentage from the field including a .604 mark from the free-throw line. The Lee's Summit, Mo. native is in the top-15 in the league in scoring and is in the top-16 in both field goal percentage and free throw percentage.
In conference-only play, the Mocs have five players averaging double-figures with Rhodes at 18.0,
Tarik Mckelphin at 13.3,
Jack Casale, Dambreville, and
Jadin Booth all at 12.0 through four games played.
Rollins
Both the men's and women's programs enter the matchup with a 1-3 mark in SSC play while the men stand at 6-6 overall and the women at 4-5.
The women's group picked up an SSC win over Florida Tech on Dec. 4, 54-46, before the men's team downed then-no. 12 Barry on Dec. 11, the squad's last SSC contest before a non-conference holiday tournament in Las Vegas, Nev. where the Tars went 0-2 with a 77-60 loss to then-no. 1 Lubbock Christian and 59-40 loss to Montana State.
