University of North Florida
Florida Gulf Coast
Ospreys Fall Despite Strong Defense
1/7/2010 8:41:37 PM | Women's Basketball
FORT MYERS
The Ospreys (4-10, 1-4 A-Sun) held the Eagles (10-3, 5-0 A-Sun) to their lowest scoring margin of the season with just an 11 point difference. The Eagles had previously defeated UTEP by a 12 point margin.
“I thought our defensive effort tonight was outstanding,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “I thought we changed defenses and really bought into the defensive game plan and held a very good shooting team to not a very good percentage on their own floor. I thought we did a great job on defense with keeping them off balance and confused.”
Leading UNF was senior forward Arlande Cherizol with eight points and nine rebounds. Senior center Shennette Sheffield, freshman forward Jadhken Kerr, sophomore guard Kim Baker and junior guard DeAdria Hilliard each added six points.
For the Eagles, Shannon Murphy tallied 17 points, on five three pointers and a jumper. Brittany Brown added 10 points. Chelsea Lyles pulled down seven rebounds and dished out six assists.
UNF and FGCU kept it close in the opening minutes of the game with the Eagles holding a four point, 9-5 advantage at the 14:42 mark. Both teams went scoreless over the next couple of minutes, but FGCU scored the next nine to go up 18-5 with 11:18 to go in the opening period. A three pointer from junior guard DeAdria Hilliard followed by a layup by Cherizol pulled the Ospreys to within with 8:16 left in the half.
FGCU extended its lead and led by 11 (28-17) with just under four minutes to go, but UNF went on a run to close out the half and cut the lead down to five (31-26) at the intermission.
Coming out of the break, FGCU went on a run to take its largest lead, up 14, 50-36, at the 7:53 mark. The Ospreys came back to cut the lead to eight (52-44) with two and half minutes to go. The Eagles again extended the lead off a three pointer by Murphy on their next possession. UNF would again cut the margin to single digits (56-47) with a three pointer from Kerr with 39 seconds left, but the Eagles hit a pair of free throws for the final score.
The Ospreys dominated in the paint, pulling down 43 rebounds to 30 by FGCU. UNF also tallied 20 points in the paint to 14 by the Eagles. UNF shot 39.5 percent (17-43) from the field and 57.1 percent (4-7) from behind the arc. FGCU shot 31.1 percent (19-61) from the field and 27.3 percent (12-44) from three point range. FGCU forced 20 UNF turnovers while only turning the ball over four times.
“Until we figure out a way to take better care of the basketball we're going to struggle,” Tappmeyer said. “We do great things on the defensive end and then shoot ourselves in the foot on the offensive side. Taking care of the ball on the offensive end has to be more important to us. If we're going to work that hard on the defensive end, we have to take care of it and reward ourselves on the offensive end.”
UNF will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 9 when it faces Stetson. Game time is set for 3 p.m. at the
