Panther Women Let One Get Away

Tereza Sedlakova - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

The Florida Tech women’s basketball team dropped a very winnable game on Wednesday, losing to the Florida Southern Moccasins, 51-45 at the Clemente Center.

“I think this loss is the most disappointing game of the season, winning or losing,” said Florida Tech coach John Reynolds. “People talk about the injuries we’ve had… if you make excuses, you end up with regrets. For me, no excuses... the five guys we had on the floor were good enough to win the game.”

Tereza Sedlakova led the way in scoring for FIT, scoring 11 points, to go with six rebounds. She was the only Florida Tech player in double figures. Markeema Crawford had nine points and Julie McCarthy tacked on eight, to go with her 13 rebounds.

The Mocs, who came in with a record of 14-7, including 10-3 in the Sunshine State Conference struggled offensively, for much of the game, but the Panthers were fighting to find offense as well and couldn’t take advantage.

“Our problem tonight was focus,” Reynolds said. “In those timeouts, there was no one on that bench, that looked at me that I thought they believed they could win the game, I didn’t get that vibe or that vision from them at all. And I never thought we could lose the game."

After McCarthy’s jumper tied the game at two with 7:47 to go in the first quarter, neither team scored again until Gudlau Juliusdottir hit a jumper with 3:40 left, to give the Panthers their first lead. With 2:55 left in the quarter, there were more personal fouls combined (7), than points (6).

Kareese Johnson drained a three with 2:39 left, to give the Panthers a 7-2 lead. Florida Southern eventually tied it at 7, but two free-throws from Tereza Sedlakova and a jumper by McCarthy at the buzzer, gave the Panthers an 11-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The offense picked up for the Mocs as the second quarter got underway. They regained the lead 17-16 with 5:18 to go and the quarter went back-and-forth from there, with Florida Southern holding a slim 25-24 advantage at the half.

The Panthers were outscored 13-9 in the third quarter after keeping it close early. With the game tied at 29, with 3:43 to go, Florida Southern went on a 7-0 run and led 38-33 when the quarter came to an end.

With 6:03 left in the game, the Panthers cut the lead to one, 42-41 on a Markeema Crawford jump shot. The Mocs came right back and reeled off six straight points, leading 48-41, with 3:34 left. That would be the run that did the Panthers in, as they turned the ball over five times in the final six minutes.

“Southern didn’t make mistakes down the stretch,” said Reynolds. “They executed, got the ball in the right kids’ hands and we just decided we weren’t gonna play hard down the stretch.”

For more info: Florida Southern @ Florida Tech Box Score

Sophomore guard Michaela Gelbaugh did not play Wednesday night. She was hurt in Saturday’s game at Nova Southeastern. Reynolds said the extent of the injury won’t be known until at least Monday morning, meaning she will not be available for Saturday’s game at Saint Leo. That game will tip at 5:30 p.m.

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