University of North Florida
LEHIGH
UNF rallies late, falls short
11/30/2007 9:23:14 PM | Women's Basketball
Mountain Hawks fend off UNF 54-50
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's basketball team put together a late rally but fell short Friday night in a 54-50 loss at UNF Arena to Lehigh.
UNF (2-4) trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half after holding a nine-point lead in the opening half of play. Lehigh (2-3) rallied to take a one-point lead into the locker room before building that 14-point advantage and watching UNF pull within three points in the final minute of play.
“We can't wait until we fall behind by 12 or 14 points to get motivated on the offensive end,” UNF head coach Mary Tappmeyer said. “We need to have people on our team that want to take shots. We knew they were a fundamentally sound team and this game was going to come down to rebounding and free throws.”
Lehigh won both of those battles as well, sinking 19-of-31 free throws and outrebounding the Lady Ospreys 42-34.
Jennifer Bowen led the Lady Ospreys with 13 points to go along with three assists and four rebounds. Tiffany Williams followed her with 10 points off the bench.
Williams had an open look at a 3-pointer in the final minute of play with the Lady Ospreys trailing by three points. She passed on the opportunity, however, and drove the ball to the basket, missing a short jumper, which the Mountain Hawks' Tricia Smith rebounded and turned into a four-point Lehigh advantage after hitting a free throw on the other end of the court.
Trailing 50-38, Bowen helped jumpstart UNF's rally, dishing off an assist to Willonda Windham who knocked down a jump shot before Bowen hit a 3-pointer on UNF's next trip down the court. That basket made it a 50-43 contest with
Smith led Lehigh with 14 points and 12 rebounds to go along with a couple of steals that turned into coast-to-coast layups.
Lehigh shot 32.7 percent from the field for the game compared to 36 percent shooting for UNF.
The Mountain Hawks started cold from the field, making only one of their first seven shots. UNF took advantage, eventually building a 14-5 lead. Six different players scored the first 12 points of the game for the Lady Ospreys. Lehigh countered UNF's early run and eventually took an 18-16 lead. UNF bounced back to take a 22-20 lead after Shandrea Moore hit a pair of free throws following a Lehigh technical foul. Lehigh scored the next three points before the break and started the second half on a 7-1 run.
The Lady Ospreys had 13 assist in the contest compared to only five for Lehigh. UNF finished the game with 15 turnovers to Lehigh's 18.
