Lady Ospreys open final home weekeend

Thursday, February 19

Jacksonville, Fla.

5:30 p.m.

University of North Florida

Florida Gulf Coast University

Cherizol and Syquio posted career numbers at Jacksonville Monday night

2/18/2009 8:58:00 AM | Women's Basketball

UNF hosts league-leading Florida Gulf Coast at 5:30 p.m. Thursday

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

Game Notes

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With three consecutive home wins on its resume, the University of North Florida women's basketball team will try to make it four in a row when Atlantic Sun Conference leader Florida Gulf Coast makes its way to UNF Arena for a 5:30 p.m. tip on Thursday.

UNF (6-19, 5-11 A-Sun) began its current home winning streak by moving past USC Upstate on Jan. 29 before knocking off then-conference-frontrunning East Tennessee State to close play in January. The Lady Ospreys posted a 10-point win against Campbell in their only February home contest last Saturday.

FGCU (21-4, 14-3) boasts an impressive streak of its own, having won its last 12 games – all in league action. The Eagles are the only team in the A-Sun averaging more than 70 points per game (73.7), and no other school nears their scoring margin of +12.2, which is eight points better than ETSU's +4.2 average margin of victory. ETSU handed FGCU its last defeat on Jan. 8.

The Eagles sport the A-Sun's best field goal percentage (.439) and 3-point field goal percentage (.383) while leading in assists with 17.8 per game. Adrianne McNally tops the Eagle squad with 14.7 points per game – a mark that ranks fourth in the league. Chelsea Lyles's average of 13.7 points is good for second on the FGCU roster and sixth in the A-Sun.

In the last meeting between the two, freshman Brittany Kirkland and senior Jennifer Bowen went for 15 and 11 points, respectively, in a 63-46 Lady Osprey loss. UNF led 24-23 at the half, but the Eagles nailed eight 3-pointers and shot 68.2 percent from the field in the second half to outscore UNF by 18 in the final frame. The FGCU bench scored 30 points compared to four by UNF's bench.

When: Thursday, Feb. 19 – 5:30 p.m.

Where: UNF Arena

Admission: Adult – $5; Seniors (55+)/Youth (13-17) – $3; See promotions below.

ASUN.TV: Click here (coverage begins at 5:15 p.m.)

Live Stats: Click here (begins at 5:30 p.m.)

UNF's Record: 6-19, 5-11 A-Sun

FGCU's Record: 21-4, 14-3 A-Sun

Series: FGCU leads, 2-1

Last Meeting: Jan. 24, 2009, in Fort Myers, Fla. (FGCU won 63-46)

Who's Hot: Junior Arlande Cherizol and sophomore Juliemay Syquio each posted career numbers in Monday night's SunTrust River City Rumble matchup at JU. Syquio netted a career-best 19 points and played a career-high-tying 35 minutes. Cherizol went for career bests in rebounds (14), field goals (5), field goals attempted (9), blocks (4) and minutes played (37).

Quoting Coach Tappmeyer: "Facing Florida Gulf Coast is going to be a very tough challenge for us. They are the best in the conference, and they are playing extremely well and are difficult to defend. I feel like we did a much better job defensively in the second half against JU and need that to carry over early in Thursday's game. Playing four games in a week is tough, but we need to keep our home streak alive and play well in our last two home games this weekend."

Gameday Notables: UNF is in its final season of the four-year transition into Division I … the Lady Ospreys are 1-4 all-time when playing on Feb. 19 … this season, the Lady Ospreys are 4-1 when eclipsing the 60-point mark … FGCU leads the all-time series 2-1 and has picked up the win in the past two meetings … the Lady Ospreys are coming off their best finish since entering the transitional period, finishing with a 13-16 overall record and 8-8 A-Sun record in 2007-08 … Bowen and senior Jennifer Guldager have been with the team through every season of the reclassification process.

Promotions:Military Appreciation Night … receive free admission by presenting a military I.D.