No. 10 Tampa Suffers First Defeat of 2012-13 Season

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The No. 10 University of Tampa (10-1, 1-1 SSC) women's basketball team had its program-record 10-game winning streak to start a season come to an end at the hands of Eckerd College (5-5, 2-1 SSC) in a Sunshine State Conference contest.

Eckerd used its size to create an advantage in the paint as the Tritons outrebounded the Spartans by a 39-22 margin including 11 offensive boards for the home court team. EC took a 26-22 lead to the half and stretched its lead to double figures at the 13:01 mark of the second half to create a comfortable margin.

Tampa would cut the Eckerd lead to as little as six points, though the Tritons went on a 10-0 run to take a 56-40 advantage with 4:25 to play.

Moriah Hodge led all Spartans with 15 points, with teammates Shamika Williams and Juliana Cavallaro contributing 11 and 10 respectively. Hodge also grabbed a team-leading six rebounds as Cavallaro was credited with a career-high six steals.

The Spartans will attempt to get back on track at Lynn University on Saturday at 2 p.m. Live stats and a web cast will be available through TampaSpartans.com.

Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans), Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans), YouTube (youtube.com/utathletics) and Instragram (tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.