MELBOURNE, FLA. – The Florida Tech women's basketball team took on Sunshine State Conference competition for the first time in 2023-24 on Wednesday evening as they played host to Rollins. Despite a strong effort and plenty of resiliency, the familiar refrain of fourth quarter shooting struggles undid the Panthers once again as they fell to the Tars, 62-54.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Florida Tech 54, Rollins 62
Records: Florida Tech (3-7, 0-1 SSC), Rollins (2-3, 1-0 SSC)
Location: Charles and Ruth Clemente Center | Melbourne, Fla.
 
FIRST QUARTER:
•         After a Lina Stranger-Johannessen block in the paint short-circuited Rollins' first possession, the Panthers made theirs count with a short jumper in the paint from Dalma Ehmann.
•        Tech continued its start with a Tai Roberts splitting free throws and a Kyandra Poitier jumper in transition.
•        The Tars got on the board two and a half minutes in thanks to an Aaliyah Irizarry-Perez layup that just beat the shot clock.
•        Florida Tech responded with an Ehmann layup.
•        Rollins shrunk the gap at the free throw line when Claire Erickson was fouled on a three-point attempt and then converted all three.
•        Divine Guthrie cashed in her first attempt off the bench to extend the Crimson and Gray lead to four before Lucy Leen a layup created from an offensive rebound made it a one-possession game again.
•        Breazia Robinson continued the Panthers' success in the paint with a close-range jumper that the Tars matched with two Maddie Dillinger free throws.
•        A Dillinger layup would bring Rollins on level terms briefly before a Sarah Liberatore triple and a Poitier three-point play provided the Panthers with some immediate cushion.
•        Liberatore added to the lead by grabbing the rebound from a Remingtyn Smith jumper and putting the layup back in with just over a minute remaining in the quarter.
 
SECOND QUARTER:
•      Rollins ended Florida Tech's 8-0 run on the first possession of the frame with a Leen three.
•      Tech responded with a jumper from Tai Roberts that the Tars immediately matched on the fast break with a jumper from Erin Leigh.
•      The lead reached 23-16 thanks to a perfect trip to the line for OIivia Stephens, while Kaitlyn Sanders split her free throws on Rollins' next possession.
•      A stop and an Erickson jumper brought the Tars to within three at the 6:26 media timeout.
•      Guthrie's layup broke an over four-minute scoring drought for the Panthers and extended their lead to six.
•        Rollins countered with two more free throws from Dilllinger and after a stop, would find her for a layup to draw within two.
•        Stranger-Johannessen got a steal in the backcourt and promptly converted a three-point play to move the Crimson and Gray lead back out to five.
•        Irizarry-Perez hit one of two at the line to bring the margin to 28-25 with a minute and a half remaining.
•        Liberatore's turnaround jumper while heavily covered in the paint with under a minute to go restored the Tech lead back to five.
•        Poitier's block of Faith Newton's layup attempt at the buzzer sent the Panthers into the locker room with plenty of momentum.
 
THIRD QUARTER:
•        Ajalon Gillard started the second half for Rollins in a big way with a trey that shrunk the Panther lead to two.
•        Florida Tech's first three possessions would see a shot clock violation, turnover and offensive foul.
•        Leigh's three at 7:43 would give the Tars their first lead of the night at 31-30.
•       Tech immediately reclaimed the lead thanks to a Stephens jumper in the paint and then following a turnover and offensive rebound, Poitier's jumper pushed the margin to three.
•       Rollins countered again, this time with layups from Leen and Leigh to re-take the lead.
•       A Leen three pushed the Tar lead to 38-34 and the run to 13-4 over the first 5:24 of the quarter.
•       Emily Acampora's first three of the night out of the media timeout looked to give the Crimson and Gray some life, although it would be immediately met be another Leigh three.
•       The teams would trade baskets through a heavily contested Dillinger layup and Liberatore jumper.
•       A Tai Roberts jumper with 90 seconds remaining halved the deficit and on Florida Tech's final possession of the quarter, Acampora hit from deep again to give Tech a 44-43 lead.
 
FOURTH QUARTER:
•       The Tars would re-take the lead to start the fourth, this time through an Irizarry-Perez layup.
•       A strong, driving layup from Ehmann saw the Panthers go back in front with 7:42 to play.
•       Rollins would knot the game up at the line with 7:10 to go when Irizarry-Perez went one-for-two and after a Panther turnover, Leen would knock down both of her attempts to put the Tars up by a pair.
•       Ehmann would split two free throws on the Crimson and Gray's next possession to halve the deficit, while Dillinger sunk two more.
•       Florida Tech would surge back in front thanks to a Stranger-Johannessen layup, a stop and an Acampora three at the 5:39 mark.
•       Leen would bury a corner three off of a deflected pass with 3:50 remaining to put Rollins back in front by one.
•       Gillard split a pair of free throws with 2:58 to go that bumped the Tars' lead to two.
•       After a stop, a driving Erickson layup stretched the Panther deficit to 56-52 with 2:20 remaining.
•       Florida Tech would get lifelines through a Rollins offensive foul and an offensive rebound of their own but could not convert.
•       Erickson sunk two more free throws as Florida Tech began to foul while trying to get the ball back.
•      After Leen went one-for-two at the line at the other end, Stephens sunk both of her free throws to bring Tech within five with 22 seconds left.
•      The Tars then iced the game with two more free throws from Gillard and one from Irizarry-Perez.
•      While the Crimson and Gray had their chances, they would ultimately score just two points and no field goals over the game's final 5:39.

NOTABLE PANTHERS:
•         Sarah Liberatore and Emily Acampora led Florida Tech in scoring with nine points apiece.
•         Lina Stranger-Johannessen was impactful across the stat sheet as usual with five points, eight rebounds, four steals, three blocks and two assists.
•         Kyandra Poitier was a strong presence inside once again, this time with seven points, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks.
•         Dalma Ehmann tallied seven points and seven rebounds.
 
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:
•          Rollins now leads the all-time series 60-25
•          The Tars have won eight of the past ten matchups dating back to January 2018.
•          The Panthers are 13-26 all-time at home against Rollins.
•          Tech finished the game shooting 36.2% (21-58) from the field, 16% (4-25) from beyond the arc, and 80% (8-10) on free throws.
•          Rollins shot 40.5% (17-42) in the contest, 40% (6-15) from the three-point range, and 66.7% (22-33) at the line. They were 12-20 at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
•          Florida Tech held the advantage in points in the paint (28-18), points off turnovers (22-16) and second chance points (7-6).
•          The Tars were tops in rebounds (37-30) and bench points (38-24).
•         Both teams recorded seven fast break points.
 
UP NEXT:
Florida Tech will hit the road in SSC play for the first time this season on Saturday afternoon at Saint Leo. Tip-off is set for 3:30 P.M.
 
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