MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women's Basketball) - Florida Tech was unable to build any offensive momentum against Florida Southern Wednesday night and the Panthers fell to the Moccasins 51-45 in Sunshine State Conference action at the Clemente Center.

Tereza Sedlakova was the only Panther in double-digits, scoring 11 points while adding six rebounds. Markeema Crawford chipped in nine points and five rebounds and Julie McCarthy led all players with 13 rebounds to go along with eight points in the game.

Jensen Blassage guided the Mocs with 19 points and seven boards. Gianna Vastola tallied eight points and five rebounds and Anja Fuchs-Robetin added eight points and four rebounds.

It was a defensive struggle throughout much of the contest. After a sluggish first quarter, in which neither team scored more than two points over the initial six minutes of action, the Panthers found themselves leading 11-7 heading into the second period.

The Mocs cut the margin to one on Fuchs-Robetin's steal and score at the 5:18 mark of the second. FIT would rally and build its edge back to five on Amanda Allen's jumper with 3:49 left in the half. FSC would again claw its way back and then grabbed a 25-24 lead heading into halftime after a Blassage layup with 19 seconds remaining.

Florida Southern built its advantage to as much as seven points with 1:33 left in the third but a pair of free throws by Sedlakova cut the deficit to five just before the end of the quarter.

FIT closed to gap to 42-41 on Crawford's long jumper with 6:03 remaining in the fourth. However, the Mocs would shut the door from there, only allowing the Panthers to tack on four more points before the final buzzer.

The Panthers women will look to rebound on Saturday, Feb. 11, when they head across the state for an SSC showdown with the Saint Leo Lions. That contest will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET. Fans can access live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com.