WINTER PARK, Fla. (January 16, 2008) - NSU center Stephanie Sarosi (So., Mims, Fla.) scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting as the Nova Southeastern Sharks (10-5, 3-1 SSC) came from behind to defeat the Rollins Tars (9-4, 1-3) by a score of 51-49 on Wednesday evening at Rollins' Warden Arena. The win is the first for the Sharks without scoring 60 or more points. The victory also snaps a five-game losing skid against the Tars.
The Sharks took the lead early on, widening the gap by as much as 15-10 following a made layup by Christine Haber (Sr., Libertyville, Ill.) with 11:49 left in the first stanza. The Tars, however, would follow with an 18-5 run capped by a pair of made free throws from Staci Rossi. NSUs Tara Haddock (So., Citrus Springs, Fla.) would close out the half with a three-pointer at the buzzer, sending the teams to the half with Rollins ahead 28-23.
NSU uncharacteristically struggled from behind the arc and at the charity stripe in the first half, shooting 2-of-11 and 3-of-9 from the respective spots. Rollins guard Jennifer Musgrove led all scorers with nine points in the half.
In the second half, the NSU offense found its rhythm while the Tars' offense struggled mightily. A three-point play converted by Musgrove pushed the Tars' lead to 33-27 with 16:32 remaining but a jumper by Sarosi, who scored 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting in the half, would spark NSU on a 23-7 run capped by a made three by Abbie Tepe (Fr., Cincinnati, Ohio), giving the Sharks their largest lead at 50-40 with 3:09 left.
Rollins would not go quietly, however, using a three from Rachael Malatesta and a layup by Jocelyn Kelly, among other scorers, to close the gap to 51-49 with 15 seconds left. Tepe was fouled on the next possession and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Without a timeout, Malatesta grabbed the rebound and Rollins set up Jessica Pressley who went for the lead, and the game, with a three-pointer. Musgrove snatched the board on Pressley's miss but could not get a shot off before time expired.
In the second half, NSU held Rollins to 20.5 percent from the field on 8-of-39 shooting while the Sharks shot 37.9 percent. Rollins won the rebounding battle for the game, 57-42, and forced 21 Shark turnovers. Musgrove finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds and five assists while Sarosi led all scorers with 19 points, five boards and four blocks. Rollins held a decisive advantage in most of the specialty statistics (bench points, points off turnovers and fastbreak points) but, in a game that featured seven ties and four lead changes, the Sharks would hold the most important advantage.
NSU will return to action on Saturday, January 19 as they travel to Saint Leo, Fla. to take on the Saint Leo Lions at 2pm at Saint Leo's Marion Bowman Center. The game can be heard live in the NSU Athletics Audiocast Network.
