Spartans Advance To Fourth Straight SSC Tournament Final

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The University of Tampa Spartans established a new program record for consecutive wins, notching its eleventh straight victory and earning a berth in the Sunshine State Conference tournament final thanks to a 57-53 decision over Eckerd on Saturday at the University Center on the campus of Nova Southeastern.

Tampa improved to 24-5 on the season, matching the program high for wins in a season. Last year's squad as well as the 2005-06 team reached the mark as well. Eckerd dropped to 17-12. UT has made it to the final of the conference tournament each of the last three seasons. They were defeated in last season's title game while winning the tournament in 2006 and 2007.

Tampa trailed throughout the entire contest until Gianna Messina nailed a three-point basket with 5:53 to play in the game to give the Spartans a one-point advantage. The lead change was the only one of the contest as Tampa did not trail the rest of the way.

Messina converted five of six free throws down the stretch, and Tiara Cook chipped in five of her game-high 20 points in the game's closing minutes to help secure the victory. The junior also pulled down 14 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. It was her third in Tampa's last four contests.

The game started off slowly for the Spartans as Tampa didn't score until Caitlyn Mitryk hit a three-point basket just over five minutes into the game to make the score 4-3 in favor of the Tritons. Tampa went cold offensively again for the next five minutes until going on a 6-0 run to pull within two of the Tritons.

Eckerd answered with a scoring streak of its own, scoring the next nine points to pull ahead 20-9. The Tritons went into the locker room at the half with a 28-17 lead.

The Eckerd lead grew to 12 just a1:30 into the second half, but the Spartans went on a 10-2 run that was capped off by an Angela Guiu three-point basket followed by a jumper from Cook on a play on which she was fouled. The free throw pulled Tampa to within three with 14:36 remaining in the second stanza.

Tampa would fall back behind by as many as eight before the Spartan defense created an Eckerd scoring drought of over six minutes. During that time, Tampa rolled off 13 straight points including the Messina trey that gave UT the lead.

Kym Taylor scored 16 points for UT while Guiu led the team with six assists.

The Spartans outshot Eckerd from the field percent as the nation's third-best field goal percentage defense team held the Tritons to 41.5 percent shooting. Tampa shot 44.4 percent from the field.

Tampa will face the winner of Rollins and Nova Southeastern on Sunday with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m. at NSU. Tampa split the season series with the Tars while sweeping the regular season meetings with the Sharks.

The UT athletics website will provide a link to live stats on Saturday. Fans may also sign up on the athletics website for eScores, a free service that sends text message alerts to fans at the conclusion of Spartan athletic events.