Tampa Women's Basketball Takes SSC Tournament Championship in Overtime Thriller

TAMPA, Fla. - The top-seeded and Sunshine State Conference regular-season champion University of Tampa prevailed in an overtime decision to capture the 2022 SSC Tournament championship on its home floor.

Final Score: No. 1 University of Tampa Spartans 74, No. 2 Florida Southern College Moccasins 67 (Overtime)

Records: Tampa Spartans (29-5), Florida Southern Mocs (20-9)

Location: Bob Martinez Athletics Center || Tampa, Fla.

All-Time Series: The Spartans take the season's rubber meeting after splitting in the regular season. The Mocs hold a 65-41 lead in the all-time series, though UT has won three of the last four over its SSC rival.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter: Both teams enjoyed an excellent start to the contest, with the Spartans shooting at a 50 percent clip. The Mocs came in at 41.2 percent and also hit 2-of-4 3-point attempts. LaShayla Wright-Ponder paced the Spartans with six points on 3-of-4 shooting. || Score: 16-13 Florida Southern

Second Quarter: Tampa had a stellar 10 minutes, hitting 9-of-14 field goals and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. The Spartan defense limited the Mocs to just 3-of-11 from the floor. Terri Battle provided a spark off the UT bench, scoring six points and grabbing a pair of rebounds.  || Score: 32-24 Tampa

Third Quarter: Florida Southern trimmed the Spartan advantage as the Mocs were an efficient 54.5 percent from the field while also hitting 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. UT point guard Kayla Bonilla kept the Spartans on top as she netted five points in the quarter. || Score: 43-41 Tampa

Fourth Quarter: The Mocs grabbed the momentum before a late Spartan rally to force an extra period. FSC would hit four 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes, including a game-tying long-range shot by Julia Jenike with three seconds to play. The Mocs held a 57-53 lead with under two minutes to play. UT's Aliyah Abney netted four points in the final minute as Melijah Sullivan hit a pair of free throws to put the Spartans up by a 61-58 score at the nine-second mark, prior to the overtime forcing three-pointer. || Score: 61-61 Tie

Ovetime: The homecourt Spartans proved to be too much to handle in the overtime period, outscoring the Mocs 13-6 in the extra five minutes. Florida Southern would finish the contest missing six consecutive field goals and failing to hit a shot from the floor in the final 3:16 of play. Sullivan was the star of overtime, scoring seven points and grabbing three rebounds, both team highs/ || Score: 74-67 Tampa

INSIDE THE STATS

• Tampa had five players in double figures, led by Bonilla's 17 points.
• Also hitting double figures were Sullivan (15), Wright-Ponder (13), Abney (11) and Battle (10).
• Wright-Ponder would net her ninth double-double of the season as she grabbed a team-leading 11 rebounds.
• Abney held team honors with four assists as Bonilla had a pair of steals. 

BEYOND THE BOX

• The SSC Tournament championship is the seventh in program history, and sixth under current head coach Tom Jessee. The Spartans have now captured back-to-back league titles in the tournament.

• UT also won the program's seventh SSC regular-season championship in 2021-22.

• Wright-Ponder now needs just five points to reach 1,000 career points in her collegiate career. She would be the third Spartan to eclipse the milestone this season, joining teammates Dori Nagy and Melijah Sullivan.

• Tampa will head to the NCAA Tournament riding an 8-game winning streak.

• The Spartans, who already set the program's all-time record for wins in a season, look to hit 30 wins for the first time.

UP NEXT: The Spartans will receive word on their seed and location for the 2022 NCAA South Regional. The 2022 DII women's basketball championship selection show will be live-streamed here on NCAA.com on Sunday at 10 p.m. ET. After the show, the bracket will be live here.

The winner of each of the eight regionals will advance to the NCAA Championships on March 22-25 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.