Mackey Leads Tampa to SSC Tourney Semifinal
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The University of Tampa women's basketball team rode an excellent first half by DeShaydia Mackey to a 64-38 victory over Nova Southeastern in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Sunshine State Conference tournament, which is being hosted by Lynn University.
The Spartans, who improve to 21-7 with the victory, continue their SSC tourney title defense in the semifinals against #2 Florida Tech. The semifinal meeting is slated for Saturday at 12 noon. UT was victorious in both regular season meetings this year.
Mackey put the Spartans on the board first with three of her 16 first-half points on the game's first possession off an Erica Woodard offensive rebound. Following a 15-15 tie with 10:20 remaining in the first half, the Spartans went on an 8-0 run. The UT lead was stretched to double figures with 3:20 left until the half as Tampa opened up a 38-20 halftime lead.
"Shay set the tone for us this afternoon," says head coach Tom Jessee. "Nova tried to take away the inside game and opened up some outside shots for Shay. I think she was trying to send a message about the all-conference voting."
It took less that two minutes for the Spartans to extend their lead to 20 points in the second half as UT took a 41-20 advantage on an Alexa Kane jumper with 18:17 remaining in the contest.
Leading 48-30 with 11:12 on the clock, the Spartans put the game out of reach as they proceeded to go on an 11-0 run to extend the lead to 29 points.
"I was glad that we were able to put somebody away," says Jessee. "We came back and finished putting them away in the second half. We also had some good minutes for bench players and that will be important later on in the tournament."
Mackey finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-8 shooting from field goal range. She also shot 4-5 from beyond the arc and made both free throw attempts. The junior from Plant City also turned in two assists, two blocks and a steal.
Woodard was the only other Spartan in double figures as she added 10 points. Kane chipped in nine points to go with a team high five assists. Freshman Tiara Cook paced the team in rebounds with seven off the bench as she was one of 13 Spartans to see action.
"We will be playing Florida Tech and obviously they will come out motivated," says Jessee. "We have to stick with our game plan and play some defense like we have in our previous meetings. They are a very talented team and we will need to come out with a lot of intensity in order to win."