UNF works the boards in win

Tuesday, November 20

Jacksonville, Fla.

6:00 PM

University of North Florida

Bethune Cookman

Juliemay Syquio helped spark the Lady Ospreys to a win.

11/20/2007 8:36:26 PM | Women's Basketball

Lady Ospreys down Bethune-Cookman 62-43

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's basketball team made a commitment to better rebounding after losing its home opener to UCF last Thursday night. That commitment showed Tuesday night when the Lady Ospreys outrebounded Bethune-Cookman 40-25 in a 62-43 win at UNF Arena.

The victory was the first of the season for the Lady Ospreys (1-2), which snapped a two-game losing streak to Bethune-Cookman (0-4).

“We did two things well tonight, rebound and take care of the basketball,” UNF head coach Mary Tappmeyer said. “At halftime we addressed the fact that we needed to take care of the ball and we were able to do that.”

UNF got a balanced effort all around with four different players grabbing at least four rebounds and 10 players cracking the scoring column. Juliemay Syquio and Willonda Windham came off the bench to score 10 points apiece for the Lady Ospreys, while Jennifer Guldager led the starters with eight points and a team high seven rebounds.

The Lady Ospreys put together their biggest offensive half of the season in the second frame, outscoring the Wildcats 34-24 to put the game away. UNF closed the game strong, going on an 11-3 run in the final three minutes of the contest.

Syquio gave UNF an early spark after the team fell behind 6-0 and did not score a basket in the first 4:16 of play. Her jumper helped spark a 24-6 run that BCU's Keturah Newkirk finally stopped with a 3-pointer. Syquio highlighted that run with a pair of steals that she turned into coast-to-coast layups. The freshman from Jacksonville scored all 10 of her points in the opening half. She finished the game 4-of-4 from the field with five steals.

“I know that we have gone through scoring slumps this year and we needed to start executing on the defensive end and needed to stat making critical shots,” Syquio said. “Being a point guard, you have the ability to help change the game.”

Windham did most of the damage in the second half for UNF, scoring six points and pulling down all four of her rebounds.

The Wildcats pulled as close as five points in the second half, but UNF quickly took over with a 9-0 run that Jennifer Bowen topped off with a 3-pointer. Bowen finished the game with seven points and three assists. The junior reached the 400-point plateau in the win and now has 405 points in her career.

Freshman Brittany Jones scored four points and pulled down six rebounds in her first career start, while Shandrea Moore scored seven points.

Traci Fountain led the Wildcats with 12 points, while Demetria Frank followed her 10 points and five assists.

Bethune Cookman won the turnover battle, turning the ball over 21 times compared to 26 turnovers for the Lady Ospreys. Each team finished the game with 11 steals.

UNF will head to its first tournament of the season this weekend when it travels to Hattiesburg, Miss., for the Lady Eagle Classic. The Lady Ospreys will take on host Southern Miss in the first round before following that game up with a contest against Austin Peay or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the second round.