Tampa, Fla. (March 4, 2008) – The No. 7 seed Saint Leo University women’s basketball team (13-15) suffered a season-ending 62-39 loss to the No. 2 seed University of Tampa (23-5) in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament Quarterfinals on Tuesday night.  Tampa will advance to the semifinals on Saturday against either Florida Southern or Rollins.

Three Tampa players scored in double figures to lead the second seed Spartans to the win.  Sheena Walton led all scorers and rebounders with a double-double of 16 points and 10 boards.  DeShaydia Mackey added 12 points and Alexa Kane 10 in the win.

Saint Leo was led jointly by Lauren Lee (Fr., Clearwater, Fla.), Nichole Tyler (Jr., Van Etten, N.Y.) and Dominique Daniels (So., Columbus, Ohio), as each scored eight points in the game.

The Spartans scored nine of the first 11 points to set the tone for the contest.  Tampa led throughout the game, eventually leading 27-10 with 4:14 left in the first half.  The home team eventually went into the half-time locker room with a 30-14 lead.

Things were much the same in the second half, as Tampa did not allow Saint Leo to get any closer than 11 points.  A 15-2 Spartans run helped Tampa stretch the lead midway through the half.  UT eventually led by as many as 28 down the stretch before the final margin of 23 was established with a pair of UT free throws late.

Tampa shot 43.5% (20-of-46) compared to a shooting percentage of 22.6% (12-of-53) for the Lions.  The Spartans took advantage of Saint Leo’s 24 turnovers with a 19-9 edge in points off of turnovers in the game.  UT also controlled the paint, outscoring SLU 22-12.