University of North Florida
Alabama State
UNF Falls Short to Alabama State, 58-54
12/2/2009 10:22:53 PM | Women's Basketball
JACKSONVILLE
Leading the Ospreys (1-5) was sophomore guard Brittany Kirkland with 13 points while dishing out six assists. Junior guard Juliemay Syquio added 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Senior forward Arlande Cherizol tallied a team high eight rebounds.
For the Hornets (2-4) Tanika Jackson tallied a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Tandria Milton added 12 points.
The Ospreys opened up the scoring with baskets on their first three possessions of the game to take an early 7-0 lead with 17:49 on the clock. Both teams went scoreless over the next three and a half minutes, but Alabama State recovered first, scoring 10 unanswered points to take the 10-7 advantage at the 9:33 mark.
Freshman guard Dori Lansbach broke the UNF drought with a jumper at 9:10, to close the gap to 10-9, but the Hornets went on a run to take a six point (15-9) lead with 6:25 remaining. UNF responded with a pair of three pointers to tie the game at 15 with 4:56 left in the half. The two teams traded baskets to close out the half with six lead changes and four ties. UNF and ASU went into the break knotted at 27.
“We were aggressive, we were rebounding, we were running and scoring easily and then they went zone,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “Our goal was to go inside out because we had the size advantage, but we didn't get the ball inside very effectively in the first half and we didn't shoot it particularly well from the perimeter. I thought we got a little bit better at the end of the first half with handling the zone.”
Coming out of the break,
The Hornets responded, taking a one point, 49-48, lead with 6:51 left to play off a jumper from Milton. UNF and ASU tied for the seventh time in the game with just under two minutes remaining. Alabama State connected on its next possession to take a two point (55-53) lead with 1:13 to go. A foul with 17 ticks left on the clock sent Syquio to the line where she made the front end of a pair of free throws. The Ospreys were forced to foul, but the Hornets made 3-of-4 from the line in the final seconds to seal the win.
“The story of the game was the second half,” Tappmeyer said. “We had four or five opportunities really early that we didn't capitalize on. Number 33 went to town on us. We didn't guard her very well at all. We couldn't guard her man-to-man so we went zone and I thought we effectively shut them down in the zone, but then they got 19 offensive rebounds and they were able to get offensive boards and put backs. Anytime you give a team second and third shots, they're going to beat you. People are going to look at the last minute of the game, but that isn't what hurt us. If we had taken care of business in the second half, we don't put ourselves in a late game situation.”
UNF held a slight 41-39 rebound on the boards, but the Hornets took control inside offensively, scoring 22 points in the paint to just 14 by the Ospreys. ASU's bench also accounted for 37 of its points while the UNF bench tallied 13 points.
The Ospreys will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 5 when they travel to Johnson City, Tenn. to face East Tennessee State University in Atlantic Sun action. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at the Memorial Center.
