Lancers' late lunge upends Lady Ospreys

Wednesday, December 17

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

Longwood

Freshman Brittany Kirkland celebrated her birthday and a 12-point performance

12/17/2008 10:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

UNF led by 5 with less than eight minutes remaining

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The final eight minutes of the University of North Florida women's basketball team's contest against Longwood in the second game of the Lady Osprey Holiday Classic on Wednesday proved to be the deciding factor with the Lancers holding the Lady Ospreys to one field goal in that stretch while scoring 15 points of their own.

UNF (2-6, 1-1 Atlantic Sun Conference) boasted a four-point lead at halftime but scored only 14 second-half points and dropped its third-straight game, this time to Longwood (4-4), 46-38. With a little less than eight minutes remaining in the game, the Lady Ospreys held a five-point edge before scoring just two points over the final seven minutes and 41 seconds.

"We couldn't hit anything," UNF head coach Mary Tappmeyer said. "We had four huge letdowns down the stretch and gave up uncontested baskets. When we contested shots, they didn't make them, but we gave up three uncontested 3-pointers off a play we knew they would run."

The Lady Ospreys shot .279 percent from the field in the contest, including a 6-for-26 performance in the second half. Longwood hit .306 percent of their shots from the floor, connecting on .368 percent from 3-point land (.556 in the second half). Krystal Garrison knocked down two clutch long-range jumpers in the final nine minutes – the first to knot the score at 31-31, and the second to put Longwood up for good, 39-36, with 4:09 remaining.

The home team controlled the tempo throughout the first half by scoring the game's first seven points and never trailing before the break. UNF led by as many as seven points four times in the opening frame and took a 24-20 lead into halftime. Defensive pressure by the Lady Ospreys forced the Lancers to shoot .292 percent from the field in the first half and .200 percent from beyond the arc.

"We wanted to make the drivers shoot and the shooters drive," Tappmeyer said. "I thought we did a good job of that in the first half but we did not execute well down the stretch. Because of the youth and inexperience of the team, I think we got frustrated with not being able to score in the second half and that affected our mentality on the defensive end."

That frustration resulted in a 15-2 Lancer run in the closing minutes of the contest. The Lady Ospreys went 1-for-9 during that time and committed five of their 19 turnovers.

"If we can't score, we must stop our opponent from scoring," junior Arlande Cherizol said. "Grabbing rebounds is not enough. When we pull down offensive rebounds we need to go back up strong and capitalize on those opportunities."

Despite racking up 19 offensive rebounds, UNF scored just seven second-chance points. The Lady Ospreys notched a total of 47 rebounds, 12 more than the total of their opponent. Cherizol nabbed a game-high and UNF career-high 10 boards while freshman Kayla Mobley added six.

Freshman Brittany Kirkland posted a solid showing, leading all scorers with 12 points. She tied her career-high with five made field goals and 30 minutes of action. She also contributed two steals and two assists after scoring the first five points of the game.

"I had the energy from the start and wanted to win this ball game," freshman Brittany Kirkland said. "I felt like towards the end we gave up in a sense and worried more about the offensive end instead of focusing on our defense and making stops."

Redshirt freshman Rachelle Rasley played a career-high 22 minutes and chipped in six points. Mobley also finished with six points while Cherizol had four and five Lady Ospreys scored two.

Garrison and Brooke Long both tabbed 11 points and sank three 3-pointers for Longwood. Brittani Billups had 10 rebounds, five points and three assists.

UNF takes the court again Thursday night to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which fell to Jacksonville State, 48-45, in the opening game of the Lady Osprey Holiday Classic on Wednesday.

"We have to go back to work and believe in the things we are doing," Tappmeyer said. "With both teams coming off a loss, this matchup will be about having the mental ability to put the last game behind and approaching tomorrow as a new day and a new opponent."