University of North Florida
Jacksonville
JU tops Lady Ospreys in
SunTrust River City Rumble
1/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2007
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida women's basketball team dropped its first outing of the season with Jacksonville in the SunTrust River City Rumble on Saturday at JU's Swisher Gymnasium, falling to the Dolphins, 56-42.
JU (9-6, 3-2 A-Sun) put together a 13-4 run in the first half and a 12-4 run to open the second half of a game that UNF (3-12, 2-3 A-Sun) controlled early.
Shandrea Moore and Tamara Hubbard led the Lady Ospreys with 10 points, while three Dolphins scored in double figures, led by Ashley Williams' 21 points.
After shooting 46 percent from the field in the opening half of play, the Lady Ospreys shot only 21 percent in the second half (5-for-24), scoring 17 points in the frame.
UNF held a 6-2 lead going into the first media timeout, forcing JU into five turnovers in the first five minutes of play. Moore scored six of the Lady Ospreys' first 12 points to give UNF a 12-6 advantage. JU took its first lead of the game when Williams hit a pair of free throws to cap a 9-2 JU run and give the Dolphins a 15-14 advantage.
UNF briefly regained the lead on a Moore layup before the Dolphins went on a 15-9 run to close the half and take a 30-25 advantage into the locker room.
Moore led the Lady Ospreys with eight points in the half, followed by Jennifer Bowen who had six. Regina Omoite led the Dolphins with 11 points, hitting all four of her shots from the field.
Omoite finished the game with 13 points, while Virginia Gregoire scored 14 for JU.
Bowen finished the contest with six points and three of the team's 12 offensive rebounds. JU won the battle of the boards 30-25. Gregoire led all players with eight rebounds, while Jennifer Guldager finished with seven, tops on the UNF squad.
The Lady Ospreys started slow in the second half and never recovered, scoring only one basket in the first five minutes of play.
UNF turned the game into a defensive battle in the second half, wearing down the Dolphins, but couldn't get the scoring it needed to overcome a deficit that hung around 10 points for most of the half. Trailing 42-32, the Lady Ospreys held JU scoreless for more than seven minutes, but didn't score themselves in that time frame.
Williams finally broke the drought with a pair of free throws at the 6:58 mark. That sparked a 10-2 run that gave the Dolphins all they needed for the win. Denisia Andrews finally broke that run for UNF with a 3-pointer at the top of the key with 3:17 remaining.
UNF will leave Jacksonville for the first time in a month when it heads to East Tennessee State on Thursday before following that up with a contest against Kennesaw State on Saturday. Both games can be heard live on the web at www.unfospreys.com.
