ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Illyssa Vivo connected on six of her team's nine three-point field goals to help carry the University of Tampa past the Eckerd College women's basketball program on Wednesday evening in the McArthur Center, 66-57.
The Tritons (7-6, 1-3 SSC) outscored the Spartans (9-5, 3-2 SSC) by one point in the second half, but ultimately were unable to overcome a 10-point deficit going in at the break.
"I think our team competed tonight and I thought we played pretty hard, but I thought we had one too many defensive breakdowns that left Tampa to open spot shoot and that hurt us," EC head coach
Paul Honsinger said afterwards.
Tampa shot over 65 percent from the field in the opening period, hitting on 15-of-23 tries from the field.
Eckerd was able to knock down 55 percent on all shots in the first half and slowed down its opponent to 10-of-33 shooting in the second half while outshooting the Spartans by less than one percent in the end.
A battle of two of the Sunshine State Conference's most productive post players unfolded as EC senior
Liga Vente bruised her way inside to 19 points and 10 rebounds and UT's Taylor McVey registered a dozen points and seven rebounds, respectively.
Vivo led the Spartans' offensive attack from deep, scoring all of her 18 points from three-point territory.
She led three Spartans in double figures, joining McVey and Ellen Nurmi's 15.
The Tritons had whittled down a 15-point first half deficit down to just three with the Spartans clinging on 39-36 with more than 15 minutes left to play.
After a jumper by Keke Jones gave Tampa its largest lead of the first half with 2:28 left, the Tritons would put together a 5-0 run going into the intermission. That turned into a 14-2 run spreading out to begin the final frame as Vente, junior guard
Kayla Bowlin, senior
Amy Buccilla and junior
Ivana Grbic, all hit baskets.
But three pointers by Nurmi and Vivo sandwiched in a 10-2 Tampa run pushed the lead open to double digits again and the Spartans led by as many as 17 late in the final period.
Vente was instrumental for the Tritons opening the game on a 14-7 run. Vente and Bowlin accounted for 10 of the team's first 14 points to start.
"We were aggressive to start the game," Honsinger said. "I thought Liga set the tone inside. She was going right at their post player (McVey), who is a great player in her own right, and it was a battle of posts inside. I thought Liga played a great game inside."
Bowlin netted 11 of her 13 points in the first half while Buccilla's field goal kept her streak alive of consecutive games with one three-pointer made at 13. Freshman
Victoria Vine scored a season-best eight points, connecting on all four field-goal attempts.
Another freshman,
Sarah Ammons, finished with five points in seven minutes on the floor. She drained one of the team's four treys on the night.
The Tritons will look to regroup and prepare for another home conference showdown on Saturday against Barry University with the tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. from the McArthur Center.
