#16 Tampa Defeats Rival Florida Southern In Dramatic Fashion

LAKELAND, Fla. - Angela Guiu nailed a game-winning jumper with under three seconds to play and the 16th-ranked University of Tampa women's basketball escaped from Florida Southern with a 69-68 victory, securing sole possession of first place in the Sunshine State Conference in the process. The win pushes Tampa to 16-2 and 6-1 in the SSC while the Mocs drop to 14-3 and 5-2.

The game was a back-and-forth affair as Southern quickly jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the contest's first three minutes. The Spartans responded with a 15-3 run over the next five minutes to grab what would be its largest lead of the contest.

The scoring run was aided by two 3-pointers from Caitlyn Mitryk and trey by Gianna Messina.

Tampa's hot hand from beyond the arc would cool off considerably as the team finished the first half just 3-11 on 3-point attempts and that allowed FSC to erase the Spartan lead. The Mocs went into halftime up 33-32.

Florida Southern proceeded to control play through much of the second stanza and held a 10-point advantage over the guests with 5:05 remaining in the contest.

With the Spartans still trailing by a 66-58 margin at the 3:11 mark, Tampa scored a quick seven points thanks to another 3-pointer from Messina, a pair of free throws from Mitryk and a jumper from Catriana Messina and pulled to within one.

The Mocs pushed its lead out to a 68-65 advantage over the Spartans with 2:04 left but FSC would not score again, allowing for the Tampa heroics in the game's closing moments.

Tampa turned the ball over on the following possession after Southern grabbed its three-point lead, but Catriana Messina forced a steal from the conference's leading scorer Chelsea Johnson to setup a jumper from her sister to cut the deficit back to one.

A missed layup by Michaela Hawley - the game's leading scorer as she finished with 26 points - fell into the hands of Taja Green for her game-best 12th rebound. On the ensuing possession, the Spartans were fouled but could not get a free throw to drop.

It was no matter though as the second attempt went out of bounds off of a Moc to give UT the ball with the shot clock off.

Catriana Messina missed a jumper with five seconds left, but again the ball would go out of bounds off of a Southern player, giving Tampa one last opportunity of winning the game.

From the baseline under the Spartan basket, Catriana Messina found a wide-open Guiu who sank the uncontested jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Spartans were led on the night by Gianna Messina who scored 24 points in the winning effort, including a 4-7 performance from 3-point land. Mitryk added 17 points while collecting six assists. Catriana Messina was also stellar in the assists department as she picked up a game-high seven helpers.

Tiara Cook registered a double-double for the fifth straight contest, concluding the night with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The Spartans were outshot in the game by Southern 42.6 percent to 38.8 percent, but Tampa capitalized on its 16 offensive rebounds with 15 second chance points. UT outrebounded the Mocs by a 44-30 clip.

Tampa will now return to the Martinez Center for a 2 p.m. showdown against Barry on Saturday.

Live stats and a webcast will be available through www.tampaspartans.com.
Fans may also follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers eScores, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.