MELBOURNE, Fla. - The second seed Florida Southern College Women's basketball is set to host No. 7 Lynn in the quarterfinals of the Sunshine State Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by S3 designs on Tuesday, March 1, at 5:30 p.m., inside the Jenkins Field House in Lakeland.
Location: Lakeland, Fla.
Arena: Streamline Sale Arena, George W. Jenkins Field House
Tip-Off: 5:30 p.m.
Coverage: Live Stats - www.fscmocs.com/stats; Video - www.fscmocs.com/live
Florida Southern College was the only school in the Sunshine State Conference to earn
hosting rights for both the women's and men's quarterfinal games. The No. 4 men's team
will tip-off against No. 5 Tampa at 7:30 p.m. following the completion of the women's game.
"We are excited to be able to host the first round," said head coach Betsy Harris. "Our team has really worked hard to put us in this position. We need to make sure we bring the energy against a good Lynn team."
2nd Seed - The Moccasins -
Florida Southern finished the regular season with an overall record of 18-8 and a conference
record of 16-4. They finished the season with a 10 game win streak and have not lost a game
since January 19th, when they fell to the nationally ranked and No. 1 seed Tampa.
The Mocs average 67.9 points a game and let up just 60.0 on average. They boast a 1.1 assist to turnover ratio while their opponents average 18.6 turnovers a game. Whitney Jacob and Julia Jenike lead the team in scoring with 16.6 (#2 in SSC) and 15.0 points per game, respectively. Mackenzie Steele has also made major offensive contributions, averaging 9.5 points per game. Sara Wohlgemuth leads the team in assists with 89 on the season.
7th Seed - The Fighting Knights -
The Fighting Knights closed out their season on a five-game win streak to finish the season right
at .500 with a 12-12 record and a 10-10 record in SSC play.
Lynn averages 59.8 points per game and boasts the third-best defense in the conference letting up just 56.9 points per game. Their leading scorer is freshman guard Rachel Romich who currently leads the SSC in three-point percentage (.479) and averages 12.2 points per game.
Uloma Enyogasi adds an average of 11.1 points per game.
FSC in the SSC Tournament
Florida Southern enters the tournament at 51-28 overall. They currently lead the conference for
most tournament wins at 12, four more than Rollins. Their most recent victory came in 2019 with a down to the wire win over Eckerd College. They were also crowned Champions the
previous year.
The Matchup - FSC vs Lynn
This will be just the second conference tournament matchup for the two teams despite being conference peers since 1996. The first time they met was in the 2010 quarterfinals where Lynn got the better of host Moccasins with a 65-63 victory.
This year, the teams split their regular-season series in an unusual fashion. They first met in Boca Raton on December 11 where the Fighting Knights won in a 75-43 blow-out victory. The next time they met was in Lakeland and Florida Southern was out for revenge. This time it was the Mocs with the blowout victory as they took down the fighting knights 77-49.
Mackenzie Steele was the leading scorer in the two-game regular-season series with 10.0 ppg. Jacob added 9.5 ppg while Ashley Shell added an average of 9 ppg.
Other Games Around the League
#1 Tampa vs. #8 ERAU - 7:00 PM
#3 Eckerd vs. #6 NSU - 7:00 PM
#4 Saint Leo vs. #5 Barry - 7:00 PM
Following Tuesday's quarterfinal round, the tournament semifinals will be held on Thursday, March 3rd, and the championship final will be played Sunday, March 6th. The SSC champion will receive automatic qualification to the 2022 NCAA Division II Championships. Regional competition will take place at a non-predetermined site beginning on Friday, March 11th. Elite Eight play will take place Monday, March 21st to Friday, March 25th at The Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. The NCAA will announce championship selections and seeding on Sunday, March 6th, here.
