Karl Van Gelder
Staff Writer
Good things come in three’s and women’s basketball is tripling down on their identity of tough, quick and team-oriented basketball.
The Mocs rattled off four straight wins after stumbling in their opener to the receiving votes Lee Flames. If you glimpse at the season stats so far, the expectations of last year’s Second Team All-SSC member, Sydney Gomes, have been met. She’s leading the team in points, assists and steals to pair with being second in rebounds.
However, even with eight returning players, four of which being starters, they were picked to finish sixth in the SSC preseason poll.
Gomes said, “… being picked sixth in the preseason poll just added fuel to the fire and got us excited to compete. We didn’t take it as an insult, but it reminded us that respect has to be earned and isn’t something that’s just given.”
Gomes, and the rest of the Mocs, have shown this drive early this season dominating opponents and averaging a 20.2 scoring margin including their 104-49 dismantling of Puerto Rico-Bayamon.
In the win, contributions came from everyone, including last year’s Division II triple double leader – Sydney Gomes – who earned her third career triple-double, marking the most in a career at Florida Southern.
Despite setting a school record for number of rebounds in a triple-double with 14, Gomes led the team in only one stat — assists.
The leader in points and rebounds was Division I transfer and sixth man, so far, Carlota Gomez Alonso. She found career-highs in points and rebounds as she led the Mocs with her 23 points and 17 rebounds in just 24 minutes off the bench.
Gomez Alonso’s 17 rebounds were the most by a Moc since head coach Megan Dzikas’ playing days when her teammate Megan Lamberg had 19 in the 2011-12 season.
Gomes praised the newcomer, Gomez Alonso, for her contributions saying, “Carlota’s performance this past weekend was a great example of the work our newcomers have been putting in. You can see their confidence growing each week as they learn the system, adjust to the pace of play, and figure out where exactly they fit in.”
Despite returning eight players, the Mocs have been forced to roll the dice with newcomers and inexperienced players being thrust into responsibilities not anticipated preseason. One of these players is sophomore Nia Blocton who came into the season viewed as a big to come off the bench, but due to injuries, was thrust into the starting lineup in the second game and hasn’t looked back since. Blocton hasn’t had numbers that jump off the page in the same sense as Gomes’ or Gomez Alonso’s have this season, but her impact is undeniable.
In her 79 minutes, the seventh most on the team, Blocton is +81. This means that when Blocton has been on the court the Mocs have outscored opponents by 81 in total, this is only behind Gomes (89), Lily Pereira (87) and Gomez Alonso (86) – the only players to score 20+ points in a game this season. Lily Pereira is +85 in her last three games thanks to back-to-back 20 point games prior to the win of Puerto Rico Bayamon.
Rebounding since the opening loss has greatly improved with the Mocs having pulled down 35 or more rebounds in each of their four wins. The Mocs have also made major jumps in scoring and play making, averaging 17.8 assists per game and just below 80 points per game.
The schedule will only get tougher from this point forward for the team as they begin conference play with the future of their season being contingent on the continued growth of the new faces to the rotation.
They played Saint Leo on the road during the printing of the paper and will be taking on Rollins College in the Mocs’ first home conference game of the season.
