Gibbs Gets First Win in Season-Opener at UMKC

Friday, November 13

Kansas City, Mo.

2:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

1-0

UMKC

0-1

North Florida

UMKC

Darrick Gibbs talking to the team in a huddle

11/13/2015 6:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The North Florida women's basketball team got its 2015-16 season off on the right foot with a 62-55 win over the University of Missouri-Kansas City (0-1) on Friday afternoon. First-year Head Coach Darrick Gibbs picked up his first career win in his first game at North Florida.

Junior-transfer Claire Ioannidis led the way for the Ospreys with 29 points, the most in a single game by any North Florida women's basketball player in the program's D-1 era (2005-present). She was a perfect, 12-for-12 from the free throw line, one shy of a school record for the most free throws without a miss in a single game. Ioanndis was key in icing the game down the stretch, as all 12 of her free throws came in the fourth quarter, eight in the final minute of the game.

"Claire was great for us today," added Gibbs. She can really shoot the ball but her aggressiveness off the dribble was the difference. She was able to generate then make 12 free throws and we needed every one of them!"

The Ospreys never relinquished the lead in the contest but the Kangaroos were within two points with under a minute to go. As a team, the Ospreys were 19-22 from the charity stripe and shot 40 percent from the field.

"I'm really pleased with how we started and finished the game today," said Gibbs. "We executed on both ends of the floor and and we got key contribution from a variety of different people in critical moments. We defended very well down the stretch and go the stops we needed to close out the game."

Sophomore Sierra Shepherd keyed a fast start that saw the Ospreys jump out to an 18-11 lead after the first quarter. She scored 11 of the teams 18 points including the team's first eight of the game. She finished the afternoon with 12 points, three assists and three rebounds.

North Florida took their second largest lead of the game on a Ioanndis three-pointer with three seconds left in the first half to make the score 34-26. The Kangaroos charged back in the third quarter, outscoring the Ospreys 15-10 to narrow the gap to 44-41.

The fourth quarter was won at the free throw line, as the Ospreys got UMKC into foul trouble early. The Ospreys went 16-for-18 from the line and only needed one field goal to close out the Kangaroos.

Freshman Katie Meckus led the Ospreys with six rebounds and also contributed four points. The Ospreys also got an impressive debut from freshman Hadley Kiefer who scored eight on 3-of-9 shooting.

Three players for UMKC got into double figures with Taylor Leathers and Kiana Law tallying 11 points while Daijane Dillard put up a team-high 12. Dillard helped spark a third quarter run and 12 of her points came from beyond the arc.

The season-opening win for the Ospreys was the first for the program since 2005 when they defeated Winthrop on the road. North Florida has now won two of the three meetings against UMKC including an overtime win last season at UNF Arena.