Lady Ospreys battle but falter

Thursday, February 5

Macon, Ga.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

Mercer University

Freshman Kim Baker scored eight points against Mercer

2/5/2009 9:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

UNF fell 65-61 after holding 36-30 halftime lead

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

Box Score

MACON, Ga. – The University of North Florida women's basketball team pushed but couldn't knock down Mercer in the final minutes of Thursday's Atlantic Sun Conference contest, ultimately falling 65-61 after leading by as many as seven in the early going of the second half.

The Lady Ospreys (5-17, 4-9 A-Sun) made runs near the end of both halves, using the first one to erase the biggest deficit of the game and take hold of a six-point heading into the break.

Mercer (12-9, 8-4) held the largest lead by either team at 30-22 with a little more than three minutes on the clock in the first half. UNF junior Arlande Cherizol swished her second shot in as many minutes to open the Lady Osprey hot streak before freshman Brittany Kirkland closed the half in impressive fashion.

Kirkland nailed a jumper from 23 feet to make the score 30-27 at the 1:55 mark and then found the bottom of the net from beyond the arc again less than 30 seconds later to even the score. Senior Jennifer Guldager grabbed two of her game-high 11 rebounds to give UNF its last two possessions of the first half.

With 31 seconds until halftime, Kirkland drained another long-range shot before sealing the streak by notching her fourth 3-pointer in under two minutes when she fired true on a buzzer-beating 3-ball from the top of the key. Senior Jennifer Bowen assisted all four treys.

Led by Kirkland's hot hands, UNF closed the first half on a 14-0 run and took a 36-30 lead with them into the locker room at halftime.

Natasha Doh pulled the Bears within three only seven seconds into the second frame but the Lady Ospreys scored the game's next two baskets to build their biggest lead of the contest, 40-33.

In the next nine minutes, Mercer used a 17-3 run to go up by seven (50-43) at the 8:35 mark. After trading baskets over the next six and a half minutes, the home team still held onto its seven-point edge with a little less than two minutes remaining, but UNF made another run.

Cherizol connected on a layup and Bowen sank a free throw to cut the lead to three. A pair of free ones by Courtney Ford, who led all scorers with 17 points, pushed Mercer's lead back to five. UNF's leading scorer Kirkland flushed a set from the charity stripe for her only second-half points that brought the lead down to three at 59-56.

Ford hit two more free throws before LaToya Jackson added a pair to increase the Bears' lead to six.

Freshman Kim Baker sliced through the lane and was fouled while laying the ball in the hoop. She completed the three-point play and made it a one possession game. After Jackson split a pair from the charity stripe, Baker made another layup to bring the Lady Ospreys within two with six seconds remaining.

UNF was forced to immediately foul Ford, and her made free throws pushed the score to its final.

Cherizol finished with 10 points and five rebounds while sophomore Juliemay Syquio netted nine points and Guldager and Bowen had eight and seven, respectively.

Mercer scored 37 points off the bench compared to 13 by the Lady Ospreys. Adding to Ford's bench performance, Doh netted 14 and Kourtney Carter notched six.

UNF wraps up its road trip with a visit to Kennesaw State for a 4:30 p.m. tip on Saturday.