Tampa's Greta Bartkute scored the first two points of the game with 17:13 left to go in regulation and would not drop the advantage throughout the entire game. The reigning SSC regular season champions led by as many as eight in the first 20 minutes and headed into the locker room just edging the Falcons by a four point clip 29-25.
In the second stanza UT pushed its lead to 11 points with 14:41 to go in the game, but St. Augustine's answered cutting its deficit to seven. The Falcons out rebounded Tampa by a 48-31 margin but was never able to catch up to the hot handed Spartans as they ended the game shooting 50 percent from the field.
Senior guard Gianna Messina went into the game with 14 points to-go in her quest to become a member of the 1,000 point club and did not shy away from the challenge as she was able to match her career-high ending the game with 30 points and pushing her total to 1,016. Messina marks the 16th Spartan to break 1,000 points and looks to contend as a SSC Player of the Year candidate.
Just trailing Messina was senior Taja Green netting 17 points and hitting her sixth double digit performance this year. Catrianna Messina rounds out the double figure scorers as she added 10 points and five assists to the Tampa win. Matching C. Messina's distributing abilities was freshman guard Lindsey Watson who also tallied a team-best seven rebounds.
Tampa returns to the George Jenkins Field House tomorrow to take on the University of Indianapolis at noon for the second game of the Florida Southern Tournament.
Live stats and a webcast will be available through www.tampaspartans.com.
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