weekly_011706

WEEKLY ATHLETIC SCHEDULE

Wednesday, January 18

Women's Basketball at Tampa – Tampa, Fla. – 5:30 p.m.
Men's Basketball at Tampa – Tampa Fla. – 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, January 21

Swimming at Tampa – Tampa, Fla. – 11 a.m.
Men's Basketball at Barry – Miami Shores, Fla. – 2 p.m.
Women's Basketball at Barry – Miami Shores, Fla. – 4 p.m.

Junior Larissa McDonough found her groove last week, connecting on 8-10 from three-point range and pouring in 35 points in two games. The small forward, who is equally as tough in the paint, went 3-5 from beyond the arch en route to 12 points in the Tars Sunshine State Conference win at Florida Southern on Wednesday. She then exploded on Saturday in Rollins' home win against Lynn, shooting 7-11 from the field, including a perfect 5-5 from long range, to lead the Tars with 23 points. She also grabbed four rebounds and put up two blocks. On the year, McDonough is averaging 13.9 points per game while also pulling down 5.8 rebounds.

Any lingering questions about who's the top team in the Sunshine State Conference were quickly answered last week as the Rollins women's basketball team out-muscled Florida Southern 67-49 on the road and ran past second place Lynn 80-50.

The victories ties the best start in school history as Rollins is now 13-0 overall and 5-0 in the SSC. The Tars have twice before opened the season 13-0 prior to losing its first game, with the last time occurring in 1999-2000.

Against Florida Southern, the Tars used a big run to open the second half and cruised to a 67-49 victory. Sophomore guard Jennifer Musgrove (Palm Bay, Fla.) led the Tars with a career high 19 points while sophomore forward Rachael Workman (Northampton, Mass.) had a team high seven rebounds. Rollins' leading scorer senior Joslyn Giles (Winter Haven, Fla.) had another consistent night for the Tars with 13 points and six rebounds, while junior forward Larissa McDonough (Ormond Beach, Fla.) added 12 points and five rebounds. McDonough had a season high four assists and connected on three of five from the three point line.

The Tars wasted no time in establishing an early lead, going up by 12 points with 12:40 to play in the first half. The Moccasins fought back and cut the Tars lead to five with 3:29 to play in the half. Rollins then took advantage of the Moccasins foul trouble and connected on eight of ten free throws to grab a 41-27 advantage going into the break. Rollins went up by as many as 26 points during the second half, the last time being with 6:54 left in the game. Florida Southern did not back down and finished the game on a 12-4 run to cut the Tars' final advantage to 18 points.

Lynn came to the Alfond Sports Center on Saturday looking to knock the Tars out of the SSC lead, but Rollins had other plans, running away with an 80-50 win. The one-two punch of Larissa McDonough and Joslyn Giles proved to be too much as Rollins dominated all aspects of the game. McDonough was on fire all night, going 7-11 from the field, including 5-5 from the three point line for a team high 23 points. Senior forward Giles went 7-17 from the field for 17 points.

The Fighting Knights entered the game tied atop the SSC standings with the Tars, as both schools were undefeated in conference play. The Knights were able to keep the Tars in check to start the game until McDonough caught fire from behind the three point line. The junior forward connected on three treys in 60 seconds to stretch the Tars lead from 23-14 to 32-16 with 5:01 to play in the first half. Giles added five of her 17 points to close out the first half and put the Tars up 41-23. The Tars shot 51.7% (15-29) from the field in the first half, including 4-4 from three point range while holding the Knights to 26.1% (6-23). The second half saw the Tars once again use their deep bench to punish their opponents. Rollins was able to go up by as many 34 points in the half. At the final whistle, the Tars had a 30 point advantage on the scoreboard.

Senior forward Randi Weiss (Kissimmee, Fla.) led the Tars with seven rebounds; while sophomore guard Jennifer Musgrove (Palm Bay, Fla.) had a career high six assists to go along with 11 points. Junior forward Jennifer Catti (Ft. Myers, Fla.) returned from injury to add four points and three rebounds off the bench for the Tars. The Tars were able to out-rebound the Fighting Knights 56-26 but were forced into 21 turnovers compared to the Knights 19.

Last week's big wins set the table for another crucial conference match-up on Wednesday as Rollins travels down I-4 to Tampa, who sits in second place at 3-1 in the SSC and 11-4 overall. The Spartans will be playing just their fourth game in 2006 with the previous three being tight contests. UT has defeated Florida Southern 55-53, lost to Lynn 70-66 and downed Florida Tech 55-50 since the holiday break. Saturday brings a trip to Miami and a clash with Barry. The Buccaneers sit at 4-12 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

The Rollins men's basketball team experienced highs and lows last week, scoring a huge 76-56 win at Florida Southern on Wednesday before falling to SSC leader Lynn 87-66 on Saturday. Against the Mocs, Rollins was hot from the field, hitting 50 percent and holding FSC to 34 percent. Versus the Knights, the Tars were again solid from the field, shooting 47 percent, but Lynn shot an amazing 66 percent from the floor, including 58 percent from beyond the arch.

In Lakeland on Wednesday, forward John Thinnes (Cincinnati, Ohio) was a long range assassin for the Tars, pumping in five three pointers en route to a career high 23 points. The junior was 9-14 from the floor, including 5-8 from three point land. Deon Troupe (St. Petersburg, Fla.) notched 14 points with Jonny Reibel (Chicago, Ill.) adding 12 and Isaac Codrey (Winter Park, Fla.) putting up 11.

Rollins ran the Moccasins out of their own gym right from the start as the Tars began the game on a 25-7 run over the first 9:45 to take a commanding 18 point lead. Thinnes drained three long range bombs over the span that was capped off with three straight Codrey baskets. The visitors went up by as much as 22 twice in the period with the Mocs finishing the half on an 11-4 run to make the count 41-26 heading into the locker room.

Florida Southern picked up right where they left off in the second half, opening up with a 12-6 run to cut the Rollins lead to nine at 47-38 with 15:12 to go. The Tars turned right around and exploded for a 14-1 run that put them up 61-39 with 8:40 left and dashed any hopes of a Moccasins comeback. Solid team play and a lock down defense the rest of the way gave Rollins the 20 point win and allowed them to keep pace in the SSC standings. Rollins held a 38-30 advantage on the boards and forced 15 turnovers while only committing 11.

The Tars were again tough through the first 20 minutes against Lynn as the teams traded baskets in a whirlwind first half that saw Rollins take a 39-36 lead into the break. The Knights, however, came out sizzling in the second half and opened the period on a 19-2 run to put the game away. Three Tars reached double figure point totals. Junior guard Deon Troupe led the Tars with 15 points on 5-8 shooting from three point range. Junior John Thinnes went for ten points but struggled from the three point line going 0-5. And junior forward Isaac Codrey was the last Tar in double figures as he finished with 13 points on 5-10 shooting. Senior Nate Rusbosin (Hamilton, Ohio) led the team in rebounding as he grabbed five boards to go along with his six points.

The Tars came out of the gate in the first half with a lot of energy, much like in their last victory against Florida Southern. Rollins took a 7-0 lead on Lynn on a lay-in by Jon Smith three minutes in. Lynn took its first lead of the game at 20-19 ten minutes in on a three point field goal by Evan Cohn. Rollins then went on a 12-4 run to go up seven on a lay-in by Chauncey Gibbs (West Palm Beach, Fla.). The Tars had their lead cut to three in the final seconds of the half on a three pointer by Marcus Hayes, as Rollins went in to the break with a 39-36 advantage.

In the second half, Lynn took control in the opening minutes. The Knights went on 11-0 run in the first five minutes of the second half capped off by a lay in by Chris Temple. Rollins would try to recover but could only chop the lead down to nine. Deon Troupe's three with 9:36 left in the half brought the score to 60-51. But Rollins would get no closer.

Next up for the Tars will be three tough road games over the next two weeks. On Wednesday January 18, the Tars will battle Tampa at 7:30 p.m. before traveling to Miami Shores to play Barry at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

The Rollins men stayed perfect in 2006, rolling up eight first place finishes en route to a 119-86 victory over Sewanee, while the Tars women gathered three individual victories, but fell to the Tigers 119-78.5.

The win improves the Rollins men to 5-3 in dual meets this season while the women dropped to 1-7.

On the men's side, Bill Burris (Moorestown, N.J.) and Jeff Mueller (Tampa, Fla.) led the Tars as each had a part in three Rollins wins. Mueller teamed with Chris Sparks (Wilmington, Del), Trevor Hughes (Long Beach, N.Y.) and Carson Nicely (Knoxville, Tenn.) to get things started with a victory in the 400-yard medley relay. Mueller also won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.21 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:01.68. Sparks added a win in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:18.19) and a runner-up finish in the 200 IM (2:05.21). Hughes had his usual big day, cruising to a win in the 200-yard butterfly by a full second, stopping the clock at 2:05.12.

Burris grabbed a victory in the 50 yard freestyle in 22.17 with teammate Jonathan Mastin (Miami, Fla.) right behind in second place with a time of 23.11. Burris was also the winner of the 100-yard freestyle in 49.29 and teamed with Mastin, Nicely and Tom Alexander (Atlanta, Ga.) to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:22.21.

In the women's competition, Corie Kelly (Longwood, Fla.) and Jessica Rothbiend (Pinehurst, N.C.) each scored two wins and one runner up finish to lead the Tars. The pair teamed with Ashley Hunsberger (New Britain, Pa.) and Casey Capron (Avon, N.J.) to win the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 4:22.63, almost eight ticks ahead of second place. Rothbiend added a first place in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:37.00 and a runner up in the 200 IM (2:24.65). Kelly won the 200 butterfly in 2:22.69 and took second place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:07.90. Distance swimmer Andrea Bartman (York, Pa.) notched a runner-up finish for the Tars, finishing the 1000-yard freestyle in 11:54.31.

The Rollins men and women's swim teams will be back in the pool on Saturday, January 21, as they will travel to Tampa. Competition is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

The annual Myers-Miller Rollins Team Golf Tournament will be held this year on Monday, April 24th at Interlachen Country Club . Save the date and look for more information next week at www.rollins.edu/athletics . This will be a tournament you will not want to miss!