Offense goes cold in loss

Wednesday, December 19

Jacksonville, Fla.

7:00 PM

University of North Florida

WOFFORD

Jennifer Guldager led UNF with 11 points and nine rebounds.

12/19/2007 9:45:54 PM | Women's Basketball

Lady Ospreys fall to Wofford 51-42

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's basketball team forced 36 Wofford turnovers and outshot the Terriers 59-45, but had trouble finding the bottom of the net in a 51-42 loss that closed out the UNF Holiday Classic.

The Lady Ospreys (4-6) were 12-of-59 from the field, hitting only five shots in the second half and scoring 16 points in the frame.

“I thought we played well on the defensive end, we just couldn't get anything thing to fall on the offensive end of the court,” UNF head coach Mary Tappmeyer said. “We missed a lot of point blank shots.”

Jennifer Guldager led the way for the Lady Ospreys, scoring a team-high 11 points and pulling down a game-high nine rebounds to go along with six steals. Seven of those rebounds came on the offensive end, helping the Lady Ospreys to a 22-14 advantage in offensive rebounds.

Liz Miller and Kelly Dwyer each scored in double figures for Wofford (6-4), with Miller leading all players with 14 points and Dwyer following her with 11.

UNF held a three-point advantage at the half and clung to a lead in the second half until Dwyer hit a pair of threes to give the Terriers a 33-28 advantage they would never relinquish. Brittany Burton answered Dwyer's 3-pointer with one of her own on UNF's next trip down the court. The game slowed down on the offensive end for both teams from there until Wofford was able to put together a 12-5 run to close out the game. UNF pulled as close as three points on a Juliemay Syquio jumper at the 1:31 mark, but could not get any closer.

The loss snapped UNF's two-game winning streak.

Despite the Lady Ospreys' 36-26 advantage in the turnover department, UNF converted only 14 points off turnovers in the loss, while Wofford converted 20.

UNF was forced to play from behind early on, hitting only one of its first eight shots. Wofford took advantage with a 14-1 lead in the early minutes of the contest. UNF's defense righted the ship after that, leading the team on a 23-9 run to close the half. Willonda Windham gave UNF a 26-21 lead with a pair of free throws to cap an 8-3 UNF run before Natalie Gramblin sunk a pair of shots at the charity stripe to make it a three-point game at the half.

Wofford won the battle of the boards 42-41, while shooting 33.3 percent for the game compared to 20.3 percent for the Lady Ospreys.

The Terriers and Lady Ospreys will square off against each other the next time they see the court on Dec. 29 in Spartanburg, S.C. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.