University of North Florida
Florida
Gators Hold Off Ospreys, 54-51
11/23/2010 7:00:36 PM | Women's Basketball
BOXSCORE
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida women's basketball team held a five point lead in the second half, but Florida came back and held off the Ospreys to claim a 54-51 win on Tuesday afternoon at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
Leading the Ospreys (1-3) was Brittany Kirkland with 15 points. Juliemay Syquio added 11 points while Jadhken Kerr added eight points. Larkira Jones grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the game while blocking two shots and grabbing two steals.
“They changed some of their defensive strategy and we didn't adjust very well,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “We weren't patient with some of our shots and we struggled to score in the last part of the game. I thought our defense was pretty good tonight. We still need to do a better job on the glass and as soon as we learn to control the glass on both ends we'll be much better. I thought we saw a lot of positive progress from our team. I think we came in here and gave them a scare. We had opportunities to capitalize and we just didn't do it.”
Both teams got off to a slow start, but Florida held the early 6-2 lead at the 14:18 mark. The Ospreys went on a 14-1 run to go up 16-7 with 9:18 on the clock. UF came back and tied it up at 16 with 6:51 remaining in the half. The two teams traded baskets over the next couple minutes before UNF broke open the scoring to take a five point, 25-20 lead into the break.
Florida opened the second half with a 14-4 run to take a 34-29 lead at the 14:52 mark. The Ospreys respond with a 7-0 run to retake the lead (36-34) at 12:41. UNF responded with its own run to reclaim the lead, up three (40-37) with 9:45 left in the game. UF and UNF were tied at 42 with just over eight minutes left.
The Ospreys went on a 5-0 run to take their largest lead of the half, up 47-42 at the 6:19 mark. UF came back to reclaim the lead at 50-47 with three and a half minutes to go. The Ospreys got it down to one with under a minute remaining, but that is as close as they would come as the Gators held on for the win.
The Gators were led by Jennifer George and Azania Stewart with both players recording double-doubles. George tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds while Stewart had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
UNF shot 29.8-percent (17-of-57) from the field and 28.6-percent (4-of-14) from behind the arc while the Gators connected on 33.3-percent (20-of-60) from the field and 26.3-percent (5-of-19) from three point range. The Ospreys hit 72.2-percent (13-of-18) from the free throw line and UF hit 60-percent (9-of-15). UNF forced 20 Gator turnovers and tallied 10 steals for 16 points off turnovers. The Osprey bench scored 12 points to just eight from the UF bench.
The Ospreys will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 27 when they travel to Savannah, Ga. to face Savannah State. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
