Lady MOCS make NCAA History, but not good.

[E.T.]

Published Sunday, January 29, 2006

Mocs Fall In Five Overtimes

By Rick Brown

The Ledger

MELBOURNE -- For the second straight game, the Florida Southern Lady Mocs basketball team was a part of NCAA history.

And for the second straight game, the outcome was unfavorable.

Danielle Vaughn's jumper with 4.1 remaining gave Florida Tech an exhausting 82-81 five-overtime victory over FSC, before a crowd of 300 at the Clemente Center Saturday.

The Lady Mocs (6-13, 2-6 in Sunshine State Conference) had a shot to win it but Erica Nelson was off at the buzzer.

The five overtimes tied an NCAA Division II record for most overtimes in a game. St. Joseph's and Northern Kentucky had five overtimes in 1988.

On Wednesday, the Lady Mocs saw Nova Southeastern's Missy Guadagnino set an NCAA-mark by going 22-of-22 from the free-throw line in the contest.

Saturday's contest was just as wild. The two teams combined on 166 shots, 95 free throws and 139 rebounds.

The loss was FSC's third straight and 10th in the last 11 games.

It overshadowed a strong performance by Sarah Pavelecky, who scored her FSC season-high 25 points before fouling out in the fourth overtime.

Willamina Folks had 14 points and 10 rebounds and played 58 of the 65 minutes. Meg Saoji also had 14 points before fouling out in the third overtime.

Christina Wright had a season-high 12 points before fouling out in the third overtime.

The Panthers won despite making just 27-of-101 shots (26.7 percent) and 24-of-49 free throws.

But Florida Tech (11-8, 5-3) had what is believed to be a team-record 41 offensive rebounds and 74 for the game and got a huge game from Vaughn.

In addition to the game winner, she hit two free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining to send the game into the fifth overtime and finished with 18 points.

Danise Fequiere had 15 points and 14 rebounds for FIT. Amanda Muns had 13 points, while Tenisha Chase added 12.

After a very rough contest, the game got interesting late.

Pavelecky hit a free-throw with 42.8 seconds, then blocked a potential game-winning shot of Jennifer Tamilio to sendd the game into the first overtime tied at 48.

Southern had a 55-50 lead in overtime but FIT fought back and sent it into the second overtime when Tamilio drove the length of the court and scored with 2.1 remaining.

Saoji sent the game into triple-overtime with a layup with 36.1 remaining and a steal by Wright.

In the third overtime both Wright and Saoji fouled out, but it was Vaughn who hit a free throw with 35.4 remaining to send it to the fourth overtime tied at 67.

Vaughn scored four points in the fourth overtime, including the free throws with 2.8 to erase a 72-68 FSC lead and send it to the deciding fifth OT.