University of North Florida
LONGWOOD UNIVERSITY
UNF falls short at Longwood
11/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2006
FARMVILLE, Va. - The youthful University of North Florida women's basketball proved to be its own worst enemy on Saturday night in the championship game of the Lancer Invitational, but the Lady Ospreys didn't go down without a fight.
UNF (1-2) committed 28 turnovers and couldn't find its shooting touch in the second half in falling 52-45 to tournament host Longwood.
The Lady Ospreys outrebounded the Lancers 34-22 and got a strong performance from sophomore center Antoinette Reames with nine points and a pair of blocks, but those efforts weren't enough to overcome critical turnovers that fueled the Lancers' attack. Longwood scored 25 points off of UNF's miscues.
Despite those struggles, UNF rallied to cut a 10-point deficit to just four points with 19 seconds remaining, only to fall short.
Ashleigh Hollman scored 15 points to lead Longwood (3-0), while Amber Sims added eight of her 12 points in the second half.
UNF shot 43 percent for the game but hit just 38 percent over the final 20 minutes.
The Lady Ospreys jumped in front 2-0 just 14 seconds in, but Becky Fernandes tied the game a minute later, and a pair of Hollman free throws put the Lancers on top to stay. Longwood wouldn't trail again - forcing 16 UNF turnovers in the first half to build as much as a seven-point lead. The Lancers were ahead 24-19 at halftime.
In the second half, the Lancers raced out to a 34-22 advantage - their biggest of the game - in the first seven minutes and led 49-39 with 1:26 to play. From there, the Lady Ospreys got five points from Shandrea Moore in a 6-0 run that cut the margin to 49-45 with 19 seconds remaining.
The Lancers hit three of their four free throw attempts after that, however, to seal the final outcome.
UNF returns to action next weekend when they travel to Miami to participate in the FIU Thanksgiving Classic. UNF will face tournament host Florida International on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and either Tulane or Villanova on Saturday.
