WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Palm Beach Atlantic women's basketball team faced off against Rollins College at Rubin Arena this afternoon. The Sailfish played their best home SSC game of the year but ultimately fell 60-56 against the Tars. The loss takes the Sailfish to 2-12 as they still look for their first conference win of the season. Rollins improves to 10-5 and 3-4 in conference play.

PBA started the first quarter ice cold from the field today against a Rollins defense that is second-best in the SSC in scoring defense. The Sailfish got their first point from the line at the 5:53 mark in the first quarter and didn't make their first field goal until Aniyah Ross made a shot in the paint with 1:20 remaining in the quarter. The 'Fish missed their first 11 shots from the field and trailed 16-8.

Fortunately for the Sailfish, Rollins also was struggling to score against an active PBA zone defense. The Tars shot 27 percent in the first half but were bolstered by 16 offensive rebounds. The Sailfish were 7-of-23 from the floor in the first half and 2-of-7 from three. The Tars made 12 field goals in the first half but with all of the second and third chances off of the offensive glass, they took a total of 45 shots from the floor, including going 1-of-13 from behind the arc. Sia Williams led the 'Fish in scoring in the first half with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting. PBA was able to shut down Rollins leading scorer Jaylyn Harrison, holding her scoreless in the first 20 minutes. PBA outscored Rollins 15-12 in the second quarter but trailed 28-23 at the break.

The Sailfish played arguably their best quarter of the SSC season coming out of the half. They outscored the Tars 17-12 in the third quarter shooting 5-of-11 from the floor and 2-of-3 from three. Leading scorers Avree Carpenter and Sia Williams scored five and four points respectively in the quarter on 4-of-5 shooting. PBA did a better job cleaning up its defensive glass, holding the Tars to three offensive rebounds in the quarter. The Sailfish looked to have all of the momentum heading to the fourth quarter tied 40-40 after closing on a 11-5 run. 

Unfortunatly for the 'Fish, they came out of the fourth quarter cold the same way they did in the first. It took the Sailfish over four minutes to get their first points in the quarter, but the deficit had grown to eight points at that point. The Sailfish battled to trim the Tars lead to three points late, but Rollins closed the game out from the free-throw line making its final four of the game. 

Rollins was led by Rachel Lia's 12 points while the Sailfish had guards Avree Carpenter and Sia Williams score 18 and 14 points respectively. The Sailfish defense was effective in holding the Tars to 29 percent from the floor in the contest, but the difference in the game was the Rollins dominance on the offensive glass as they pulled down 26 of their own misses. 

Next week, the Sailfish will play two games on the road against Nova Southeastern on Jan. 15 and Florida Southern on Jan. 18.