University of North Florida
East Tennessee State
North Florida Falls to East Tennessee State
12/5/2009 3:02:54 PM | Women's Basketball
“They got 57 points off offensive rebounds and our turnovers,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “Those were two keys of the game for us today, to limit their second chance points and to protect the ball better, and we just didn't do a very good job with that today. We have to find a way to address that and until we do, we are going to struggle.”
Leading the Ospreys (1-6, 0-2 A-Sun) was sophomore guard Brittany Kirkland with 14 points. Freshman forward Jadhken Kerr added 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc and 4-of-9 from the field. Senior forward Arlande Cherizol pulled down a team best six boards. Freshman center Larkira Jones notched six points and five rebounds.
“I think that we did get some good production from our bench today and two bright spots were Larkira Jones and DeAdria Hilliard coming off the bench and doing some good things for us,” Tappmeyer said.
The Lady Bucs (3-3, 1-0 A-Sun) were led by Siarre Evans with 21 points and 14 rebounds. TaRonda Wiles also posted a double-double, notching 14 points and 10 boards. Tara Davis added 16 points while Gwen Washington tallied 11 points.
ETSU jumped out early, taking a 20-4 lead in the first seven minutes of the opening half. The Ospreys responded though, cutting the lead down to 10 (22-12) at 9:07. With just over eight minutes left in the half, junior guard DeAdria Hilliard scored on back-to-back layups, followed by a pair of made free throws by sophomore guard Kim Baker, to pull the Ospreys to within six, 22-16. That is as close as UNF would come in the half as the Lady Bucs closed out the half with a 15-4 run, taking a 37-20 advantage into the break.
The Lady Bucs continued their run coming out of the intermission, taking control early in the second half. ETSU scored four of its seven second half three pointers in the opening six minutes of the frame. The Lady Bucs shot 51.6 percent from the field in the second half while the Ospreys shot 39.4 percent.
ETSU pulled down 54 rebounds to just 29 by UNF. The Lady Bucs also had 27 second chance points to six by the Ospreys.
“If you don't play your best game against the best team in the conference then you're not going to win,” Tappmeyer commented. “We are not a very mentally tough team right now and that is definitely something that has to improve if we are going to take the next step.”
