University of North Florida
MERCER
All-around effort leads to win
1/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2007
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2007) - The
University of North Florida women's basketball team
found the cure for what has been ailing it Thursday
night in a 57-40 victory over Mercer at UNF Arena.
UNF - which was averaging 46 points a game coming
into the contest - received points from nine different
players, with Tamara Hubbard and her 11 points
leading the way. The Lady Ospreys (4-14, 3-5 A-
Sun) also controlled the boards, outrebounding
Mercer (1-18, 0-8 A-Sun) 42-30 in snapping a five-
game losing streak.
"Coming off of a few losses, this was a big win for
us," UNF center Willonda Windham said. "The defense
was big tonight. Being a young team, we are going to
make mistakes, but if we play good defense we have
a chance to win games."
Windham helped lead a 25-point effort by the UNF
bench, scoring seven points to go along with four
rebounds.
UNF took control of the game with a 19-4 run in the
second half that Hubbard capped off with a pair of
free throws. That gave the Lady Ospreys a 49-33
advantage and answered a Mercer run that trimmed
a 12-point UNF advantage to six points. Mercer
would get no closer in the game, losing its 15th-
straight contest.
Hubbard scored all of her points in the second half,
adding an assist and a steal to her totals.
Tashera Lewis led Mercer with 11 points, while Sally
Skeldon had nine points and six rebounds for the
Bears.
Jennifer Guldager followed Hubbard with nine points
for UNF to go along with a game high eight rebounds,
four of which were on the offensive end.
The teams played to a defensive struggle early with
the Lady Ospreys grabbing their first lead of the
game on a Windham layup that made it a 6-4 contest
at the 14:44 mark of the first half. Mercer countered
with a Skeldon 3-pointer to lead 11-8 before the
Lady Ospreys put together an 11-1 run that featured
five points by Denisia Andrews.
Jennifer Bowen finally finished off the half with a
jumper that gave the Lady Ospreys a 26-17
advantage.
Windham had all seven of her points in the opening
half, while Shennette Sheffield had seven rebounds in
the frame. She finished the contest with eight
rebounds and four blocks.
UNF came away with 10 steals in the contest and
forced Mercer into 27 turnovers, while committing 23
turnovers themselves.
The Lady Ospreys are back in action on Saturday
when they host Stetson at 2 p.m. Fans are
encouraged to wear pink to the game in support of
breast cancer awareness. All fans dressed in pink will
be granted free admission to the game.
