Box Score KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Eckerd College women's basketball team came up big in the opening round of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament on Thursday, defeating Florida Southern College, 73-59.
After sweeping Florida Southern during the regular season, Eckerd looked to carry that success into the SSC tournament.
The first half started off fast and furious with both teams trying get the upper hand early on. EC's defense forced back to back turnovers by the Mocs leading to a 12-6 lead for the Tritons. FSC kept up with the fast paced offense making it a four point game at the 11:43 mark, 16-12.
Led by
Rana Thomas and
Ivana Grbic, the Tritons ripped off a 16-4 run spanning over seven minutes to take a 28-14 lead. The exclamation point during the big offensive putout came from
Kayla Bowlin who sent a no look pass into Grbic who dropped it in off the glass for two.
Trine Kasemagi was perfect from the free throw line in the first half going 6 for 6 and hitting two of them to give her team 32-18 lead. The EC offense did not let up with under four minutes remaining in the first half. Eckerd outscored Florida Southern 10-2 down the stretch with Grbic hitting a buzzer beating layup to go into the locker room holding a 42-20 lead.
The Mocs opened up the second half scoring four straight points before the Tritons answered back with seven of their own. Florida Southern cut it to a 20 point game with under 15 minutes to play. They continued to chip away going on an 8-0 run and getting within 14 of EC midway through the second half.
That would be as close as the Mocs would get. Kasemagi and Grbic combined to score eight points in the next two minutes with Bowlin hitting a three point dagger to put her team back up by 19. The deficit became too much for FSC with Eckerd taking the contest, 73-59.
"We came into the game wanting to concentrate on defense and rebounding and I feel we did a tremendous job of that," said Head Coach,
Paul Honsinger. "We only allowed five offensive rebounds and that was a huge factor in the game tonight."
All five starters finished the night with double digit points. Grbic led the way with 17 while adding six rebounds and six assists. Ending the night one point behind her teammate was Thomas with 16. Kasemagi posted 14 points with eight boards.
Victoria Vine and Bowlin both put up 11 points each.
"Everyone came in and executed their role tonight," added Bowlin. "We came with a lot of enthusiasm and I am proud of how we played. We just got to get ready for Saturday."
Eckerd (23-6) will carry their eight game win streak into Saturday's matchup with Barry University (14-15). The Buccaneers upset Rollins College earlier in the day to earn their spot in the semifinals. The two teams split their regular season series with the Bucs taking game one and EC taking game two. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
