The University of Tampa was edged out by the Nova Southeastern Sharks Sunday in the Sunshine State Conference finals. Top-seeded Sharks lost both regular season match-ups to the second seeded Spartans. Tampa’s Sheena Walton and NSU’s Stephanie Sarosi were both named to the SSC first team.
Sarosi is one of the few players the 6 foot 1 Walton has to look up to. Sarosi rises four inches taller than Walton and back up Kym Taylor. Walton was named defensive player of the year by the SSC while Sarosi earned top honors as all-around player of the year.
In the SSC finals, Sarosi has two more rebounds and three more points than Walton, and has matched her block and steal count. Yet Tampa, after trailing in a 7-2 opening drive by NSU, has pulled ahead of the Sharks 20-14 at the half.
The difference lay in consistency of the team around the two all-stars. Tampa was 100 percent in both foul shots and three-pointers in the first half. DeShaydia Mackey led the Spartan scoring effort with five while Erica Woodard had a team-high eight rebounds.
The half was a defensive contest. NSU shot 4-24 from the field. Tampa put in 8-28. The score was 3-0 in Nova’s favor through the opening four minutes of the game. Neither ball club broke a lead over three until Tampa’s streak late in the half.
The second half changed pace. NSU improved shooting 16.7 percent from the field in the first half to 51.7 percent in the second. Failure to shut down Sarosi allowed the Sharks to feed balls inside, giving the sophomore 21 in the second.
Where Tampa had held a lead by eight at the end of the first, Nova claimed the same lead with 1:48 left when it counted. The Spartans tried to rally in the closing seconds but NSU had improved foul shooting from 62.5 percent in the first to 77.8 percent at the end.
The Spartans wave goodbye to four of five starters. Coach Tom Jessee has a line up of promising recruits and sophomore starter Angela Guiu ready to come back and compete for the title next year.