Reems Landreth
The No. 15 Florida Southern College women’s basketball team saw their first loss in Sunshine State Conference play on Feb. 9 with a 75-83 loss to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Florida Southern (20-2, 13-1 SSC) fell behind Embry Riddle (14-8, 9-6 SSC) early in the first as the Eagles took an 18 point lead in the first quarter. The Mocs regained their footing in the second, outscoring ERAU in the second frame to trail by five at the half (34-39).
Southern clawed back to take the lead (75-73) with 2:59 left in the matchup, but failed to score again as Embry Riddle scored 10 in the final three minutes to hold off the Mocs, 75-83.
Julia Jenike led the Mocs on the comeback with 21 points and 6 rebounds, including 5-7 from behind the arc. Anja Fuchs-Robetin (14 pts, 9 reb), Camille Giardina (14 pts, 5 reb) and Mackenzie Steele (13 pts) also scored in the double digits for the Mocs.
This is the first loss in SSC play for Florida Southern and just the second loss of the season for the Mocs squad. The last loss came on Nov. 23, 2018 in a 67-74 loss to Le Moyne at the Eckerd Thanksgiving Classic.
The 17 game win streak was the second best streak in Florida Southern history, trailing only a 26 game win streak between 1994 and 1995.
After the Nov. 23 loss, Florida Southern posted back-to-back wins to end out November defeating non-conference opponent Daeman (96-55) and SSC opener Tampa (55-48).
The Mocs went a perfect 5-0 in December, defeating Embry-Riddle (75-59) at home and Nova Southeastern (79-72) in Fort Lauderdale to finish 2018 with a 3-0 SSC record. Southern also completed non-conference play, posting wins over Bluefield State, Saginaw Valley State and Cedarville.
January was successful for the Mocs as they went 8-0 during the month, outscoring their opponents by an average of 20.75 points. The month was highlighted by a 101-72 win over Barry in Miami Shores on Jan. 12. This win was the second win this season where the Mocs scored over 100 points (116 against UPR on Nov. 19) and the only 100+ game this season during SSC play.
February opened with back-to-back wins against Nova Southeastern and Florida Tech before the loss on Feb. 9.
The Mocs played Palm Beach Atlantic on Wed., Feb. 13 and will be on the road to play Lynn in Boca Raton on Feb. 16 before being streamed live on ESPN 3 on Feb. 20 at Eckerd.
