TAMPA, Fla. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team closed out play at the Opening Weekend Spartan Crossover Tournament in the Bob Martinez Athletics Center on Saturday with a 75-73 non-conference loss to the Florida Tech (FIT) Panthers.
The Panthers (1-1) and the Badgers battled back-and-forth all night as the teams combined for 13 lead changes and six ties. With just 7:30 left on the game clock, SHC clawed out to a 63-49 lead following a 3-point bucket by freshman
Lindi DeBilzan of Lexington, Ky., but FIT stormed back to take a 73-71 lead with 53 seconds remaining.
The Badgers would tie the game off two consecutive 1-of-2 trips to the free throw line over a 30-second time span, but the Panthers had the last word when Fanny Hakanson put back a teammate's missed layup as the horn sounded for the final 75-73 score.
Junior forward
Katie Krout of Tuscaloosa, Ala., turned in 20 points with 12 rebounds while senior forward
Tiffany Valentine of Houston, Texas, pulled in eight rebounds with 19 points. Freshman guard
Tyashia Bostick of Charleston, S.C. dropped in 11 points as senior guard
Elise Reilly of Covington, La., added eight points and eight assists.
As a team, SHC shot 53.4% (31-58) on the afternoon, including a 38.5% (5-13) performance from 3-point distance. The Badgers lost 21 turnovers against nine steals by the Panther defense. Spring Hill hit just 35.3% (6-17) of their free throws, but took a 39-34 edge in rebounding.
November Morton led the way for Florida Tech with 20 points as the Panthers shot 41.3% (26-63) from the field, including 44% (11-25) from 3-point range. FIT completed 80% (12-15) free throws and lost 15 turnovers to five steals by SHC.
The Badgers (0-2) will open the home portion of their schedule on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center in a non-conference match up with the Embry-Riddle University (ERAU) Eagles (0-1).
