University of North Florida
Kennesaw State
UNF wins OT thriller
2/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2006
MARIETTA, Ga. - Andrea Dill grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back for a layup with 1.7 seconds on the clock to give the University of North Florida women's basketball team a 75-73 overtime win against Kennesaw State on Thursday in Marietta, Ga.
Dill didn't realize right off the bat she was going to be the hero, as she originally thought Anna Haberlein's jump shot found the bottom of the net. Dill, however, stood her ground and grabbed what turned out to be her 10th rebound of the night and put the shot back for her career high 20th point.
The double-double was the first of her career.
"Coach [Mary Tappmeyer] set the play up," Dill said. "I thought Anna made the shot, but I knew there was a possibility she would miss, so I crashed the boards and put the ball back up."
The Lady Ospreys (9-12, 7-6 A-Sun) had to overcome an 11-point deficit in the second half and relied on the presence of a pair of freshmen down the stretch in regulation.
Jennifer Bowen and Jennifer Guldager combined to score the last seven points of regulation for the Lady Ospreys, with six of those points tying the game after UNF had fallen behind by two.
Bowen tied the score 69-69 with 1:06 left in regulation on a 10-foot jumper, before KSU (3-17, 2-11 A-Sun) took the lead back on a Shavonder Clarke layup. Guldager missed her original opportunity to tie the game on UNF's next possession down the court, but grabbed her own missed shot before being fouled. She promptly went to the free throw line to hit a pair of shots that tied the game 71-71.
The points capped off her career high of 15 and also sent KSU's Clarke, the Lady Owls' leading scorer, to the bench with her fifth foul.
"I was proud of the way we battled back when we fell behind by 11," Tappmeyer said. "We got a huge performance from our freshmen. We talked about making stops on the defensive end at halftime and I thought we had some huge stops in the second half."
Kennesaw State had one last possession in regulation, but a Tamara Hubbard block followed by a Dill steal prevented the Lady Owls from getting a look at a winning shot.
Without Clarke, KSU only scored two points in the extra session.
Overtime turned out to be a defensive struggle, with Dill scoring the first two points of the extra session with 2:17 remaining before Ngoneh Gaye tied the game 73-73 on Kennesaw's next possession.
Clarke led the Lady Owls with 20 points and 11 rebounds, but was forced to sit for a long period of time in the first half with foul trouble.
UNF trailed by as many as nine in the opening half, but was able to cut the advantage to two by the break. Jackie Beik paced the Lady Ospreys in the opening half with 12 points to go along with six rebounds. She did not score in the second half and added one rebound to her totals.
The Lady Ospreys will finish up their road trip on Saturday when they pay a visit to East Tennessee State at 1:30 p.m. Live coverage of the game can be heard at www.unfospreys.com.
