University of North Florida
MERCER
Home streak continues with win
1/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida women's basketball team earned its first winning streak of the year and extended its home winning streak to three games with a 66-61 victory against Mercer on Saturday at UNF Arena.
Three Lady Ospreys scored in double figures to help UNF (6-10, 4-4 A-Sun) fend off a hard-charging Mercer (8-7, 5-3 A-Sun) squad that fought its way back from an 11-point second half deficit to trail by three in the final minute.
UNF finally sealed the game at the line when Tamara Hubbard and Kayla Shledon each hit a free throw to turn a 64-61 lead into a 66-61 win.
"We did some good things on the defensive end," UNF head coach Mary Tappmeyer said. "I think our changing defenses confused them. They were the most physical team we have played this year and we rose up to the challenge."
In a matchup of two of the best defensive teams in the league, UNF put together its best offensive half this season, scoring 40 points to overcome a two-point halftime deficit.
Jackie Beik led the offensive charge with 14 points for UNF, while Andrea Dill and Hubbard each finished with 11. Hubbard scored all 11 of her points in the second half.
Three Bears scored in double figures as well, led by TaShara Lewis who finished the game 14 points.
Lewis scored the Bears' last five points of the game, completing a 3-point play before following that up with a layup to make it a 64-61 contest.
UNF built its lead by coming out of the gates in the second half on a 9-2 run. That countered Mercer's 9-2 run that ended the first half.
An Alana Mountfield steal led to a Karli Knudsen basket to give the Lady Ospreys an eight-point advantage. That lead would grow on a Hubbard layup followed by a Beik layup in transition, which gave the Lady Ospreys a 57-46 advantage with 6:12 to play.
Mercer rallied from there, but would get no closer than three, as the Bears saw their five-game winning streak snapped. All of those wins came in conference play. Tanya Kessenich finished the game with 11 points for Mercer, while Sarah Russell scored 10 and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Beik led the Lady Ospreys with seven boards, helping UNF out-rebound Mercer 37-35.
Antoinette Reames led all players with two blocks, as UNF compiled four blocks on the day, compared to no blocks on the other end of the court.
UNF is back on the road next week, when it travels to Nashville to take on Lipscomb Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST, followed by a matchup at Belmont next Saturday. Coverage of the games can be heard on the World Wide Web at www.unfospreys.com.
