Spartans Hand Mocs First Conference Loss

TAMPA, Fla.  – The University of Tampa women's basketball team travelled to Lakeland to take on the No. 20 Florida Southern Mocs. The Spartans came out strong and beat the undefeated conference foe with a score of 64-57.    

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Tampa 64, Florida Southern 57 
Records: Spartans (8-3, 3-1 SSC), Mocs (8-4, 4-1 SSC)
Location: Jenkins Field House | Lakeland, Fla
All-time Series: Tampa trails the all-time series 36-58 with the Mocs.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
1st Quarter | The Spartans and the Mocs opened up play exchanging a pair of steals and turnovers. It was senior Elena de Alfredo who tallied the first points of the game with a jumper. Junior Faith Sanders followed suit with a three point jumper to put UT up 5-0 in the first three minutes of the quarter. The Spartans kept the Mocs scoreless for just under six minutes as UT increased their lead to 20-8 to end the quarter. de Alfredo dominated the opening quarter as she scored 12 of the Spartans 20 points.  

2nd Quarter | The second quarter started much like the first, with both teams trading a pair of turnovers and a steal. The Mocs were on the board first with a layup, decreasing the Spartans lead to 20-10. The Spartans and the Mocs traded baskets consistently through the middle of the second quarter, but a deep three point jumper from freshman Rachel Warden put UT up by as many as 16 points with 3:30 left in the half. The Mocs attempted to cut in to the UT advantage but the Spartans offense continued to score as they ended the half leading 39-24.

3rd Quarter | Both the Spartans and the Mocs remained scoreless for the opening two and a half minutes of play. The Mocs scored first on a layup but de Alfredo countered that basket with a jumper of her own. Making the Spartan advantage 13 points with six minutes left in the quarter. Junior Griffin Dempsey sunk a three pointer from deep to make the score 48-34 with two and a half minutes left in the quarter. The Mocs tallied a pair of baskets to cut the Spartans lead to 10 heading into the final quarter. 

4th Quarter | Junior Karma Jeremie hit the board first with a layup but was quickly followed by a three point jumper from the Mocs. The Mocs began to chip away at the Spartans lead but a jumper by Sanders and a layup by de Alfredo put the Spartans back up by 13 points. Both teams were scoreless for nearly three minutes of the final quarter until the Mocs hit a jumper, decreasing the Spartans lead to nine points. Despite good efforts by the Mocs to close in on the Spartan advantage, UT came out victorious with a score of 64-57. 

INSIDE THE STATS:

•  de Alfredo led all Spartans with 20 points, five rebounds, and went 9-16 from the field. 
• Jeremie was the second leading point scorer with 15 points, seven rebounds, and shooting 83.3 percent from the field. 
• As a team, the Spartans shot 47.7 percent from the field. 

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• This is the first time the Spartans have beaten the Mocs since the 2014-2015 season.

UP NEXT:
UT will travel to Winter Park to take on the Rollins College Tars Wednesday, January 4th at 5:30 pm. Live stats and a live video webcast will be provided through www.tampaspartans.com.

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