McCarthy Paces Panthers Victory over St. Michael's



Two games, two victories for the Florida Tech women’s basketball team. Coming off an opening night win over LeMoyne-Owen on Friday, the Panthers took care of business again on Saturday, beating St. Michael’s College, 66-59 on day two of the Rollins College Classic.

Julie McCarthy led the Panthers with a double-double Saturday, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The first quarter went back-and-forth with the score tied three times. Shequana Harris hit a lay-up with 29 seconds left, putting the Panthers up 16-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was more of the same, with the Panthers leading throughout, with a five-point advantage in the quarter on two occasions, before St. Michaels closed the gap to one. Both teams scored 19 points in the quarter and the Panthers maintained a two-point advantage at the half, 35-33.

The Panthers (2-0) put their best quarter together in the third, outscoring the Purple Knights, 20-14.
SMC tied the score at 35 within the first 32 seconds of the quarter. The Panthers then put together a nine-point run, capped by Gracie Doane’s three-ball with 6:26 left. That gave Florida Tech a 44-35 lead.

DeLise Williams hit another three-pointer later in the quarter for Florida Tech, making it a 48-39 game with 2:50 to go in the quarter. She just missed a double-double, picking up 12 points and nine rebounds. FIT led by as many as 10 with 25 seconds to go, after a lay-up by Tanease Richardson.

The Purple Knights did not go away quietly, outscoring Florida Tech 12-11 in the fourth quarter, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome.
It was a very balanced scoring attack for the Panthers, who got eight points from Doane and seven from Richardson.

For more info: Florida Tech @ St. Michaels College Box Score

The Panthers get a couple days off before opening their Sunshine State Conference season against the Eckerd Tritons on Wednesday, in St. Petersburg. Opening tip is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

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