Box Score JACKSON, Tenn. – The Eckerd College women's basketball team's historic season came to an end on Friday, falling to Rollins College in the opening round of the South Regional, 73-71.
The first game of the South Regional started off fast and furious with the Tritons jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead. After being held scoreless for close to three minutes, Rollins began to put the ball in the basket. The Tars took their first lead of the game at the 16:42 mark to go up, 5-4.
Both teams continued to go back and forth before the Tars started to take control. Rollins pulled off a 10-0 run to go up on Eckerd by 12, 27-15, midway through the first half. The Tritons answered back going on a 13-2 run of their own and getting right back in the ball game.
Ivana Grbic and
Kayla Bowlin knocked down threes on back to back possessions to make it a one point contest, trailing 29-28.
A steal by Grbic led to Bowlin hitting two free throws to give EC their first lead since the opening four minutes of the game.
Elisabeth Giegerich came down with a clutch rebound on the Tars next possession allowing
Victoria Vine to lay the ball in off the glass to take a 37-34 lead.
Rana Thomas and Grbic both put in buckets down the stretch heading into halftime. A buzzer beater three from the Tars' Julia Ingler, made it a two point game with both squads going into the locker rooms. Tritons led after the first 20 minutes, 41-39.
The squads both came out hungry to start the final half. Four minutes in and the game was knotted up 47-47. A steal by Grbic led to a three from Thomas to break the tie and give EC a three point lead. Rollins then outscored the Tritons 11-2 over the next four minutes to take a 61-52 lead with just over eight minutes remaining.
Eckerd was resilient and fought their way back trailing by just three. Thomas was able to create a steal and get the ball down the court to Bowlin who promptly drained a game tying three pointer with 1:45 left in regulation. A tough three point play from Grbic gave EC a one point advantage with the clock counting down to the final minute of play.
The Tars answered back right away with a two point bucket and then went up 73-68. Thomas wasn't done yet hitting a big three with 18.4 seconds to go, putting her team within two. EC was not able to get off a final shot and fell, 73-71.
In the contest, Thomas led Eckerd in scoring with 22 points putting her over 1,000 for her career in her final game as a Triton. Bowlin became just the third player in program history with over 700 points and more than 400 assists. She finished with 12 points in the game. It was the guard's 110
th game played, tied for first all-time. Grbic, the third senior on the squad, went out with a double-double adding 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Eckerd heads into the offseason after winning the most games in program history this year with 23.
