LAKELAND, Fla. - Florida Southern College women's basketball team fought hard against #7/9 University of Tampa on Wednesday evening but eventually fell 81-72 to the nationally-ranked Spartans in Sunshine State Conference action.
The Mocs fall to 10-7 on the season and 6-4 in the SSC, while the Spartans improve to 17-1 on the year and 9-1 in the conference.
"We executed for the most part," said head coach
Megan Dzikas '12. "There are things we got to clean up that we can clean up. I'll take my team against any team. I'm just proud of their effort, I'm proud of their buy-in - and continuing to work hard. They're hungry. They're hungry and they're here to make a statement. Even in this loss, I think we made a statement; but I'm proud of our players for playing hard, it's just a tough one."
FSC made Tampa work till the final buzzer with four scoring double-digits. Sophomore
Arielle Dabu led the Mocs offensively with 16 points, five rebounds, and a pair of assists. She shot 6-for-8 from the field and an incredible 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
Senior
Domenica Zamora and Graduate Student
Ashley Shell added 14 points apiece. Zamora dished out a career-high of nine assists and secured six rebounds. Shell accounted for six rebounds. The final Moc in double-digit scoring was freshman
Sydney Gomes with 13.
Florida Southern got off to a hot start in the first half leading by as many as 15 points in the second quarter led by Zamora and Dabu. Tampa cut into the Mocs' lead to just two points going into the locker room, 38-36.
The Spartans came into the second half with an aggressive 8-2 run that allowed them to take the lead for the first time since the first quarter. Dabu carried over the momentum from the first quarter and looked as if she couldn't miss. In the third quarter, she shot 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 from the three-point line. Gomes added a pair of threes in the quarter as well to keep the Mocs within one of the Spartans at the end of the frame, with FSC up 57-56.
In the final quarter of play, the Mocs made the Spartans work for everything. Shell dominated the paint, putting up eight points in the quarter. With just over a minute remaining Zamora knocked down a pair of free throws to bring it within four. The Mocs opted to foul the Spartans on the following possessions but the Spartans shot almost perfectly from the line leaving no room for the Mocs to close the remaining gap. Zamora did manage to secure two buckets for the Mocs in the final seconds of play, but it was not enough to close the gap as Tampa defeated Florida Southern, 81-72.
UP NEXT
Florida Southern continues their home slate on Saturday as Florida Tech comes to Jenkins Field House for another SSC matchup. Tip off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
