University of North Florida
USC Upstate
North Florida Rally Falls Short at Upstate
2/14/2011 10:14:38 PM | Women's Basketball
BOXSCORE
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After trailing by 20 in the second half, the University of North Florida women's basketball team rallied back to cut the lead to four late in the game, but the Osprey rally fell short as USC Upstate held on for the 78-65 win on Monday night in Atlantic Sun Conference action at G.B. Hodge Center in Spartanburg, S.C.
Leading the Ospreys (11-14, 9-7 A-Sun) was sophomore Jadhken Kerr with a career-high tying 21 points. She hit a career-high six three pointers in the game. Fellow sophomore Taylor Smith added 14 points while senior Juliemay Syquio tallied nine and junior Kim Baker came off the bench for eight. Larkira Jones grabbed eight rebounds for the Ospreys.
Chelsea McMillan led the Spartans (14-11, 10-7 A-Sun) with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Tee'Ara Copney notched 19 points and Kendra Wallace scored 11.
Both teams got off to a slow start, but UNF held a five point, 11-6 advantage after nine minutes of play. The Spartans answered with a 15-4 run over the next eight minutes to take a 21-15 lead with 3:46 left in the half. Upstate extended its lead and took a seven point, 26-19 advantage into the break.
UNF came out of the break with a 6-0 run to get the Spartan lead to one (26-25) at 18:35, but Upstate responded with a 27-8 run, taking the largest lead of the game, up 20 (55-35) midway through the half. The Ospreys went on a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to get the lead down to 12, 57-45 with just over seven minutes left on the clock.
The Spartans pulled back into the lead, up 62-47 with 6:23 on the clock, but the Ospreys answered with a 15-4 run fueled by 12 points from Kerr including three baskets from outside and a trio of free throws to close the gap to four (66-62) with 3:51 remaining. Upstate went 9-of-10 from the free throw line in the final minutes to hold off the Ospreys and secure the win.
Upstate held a 48-33 advantage on the boards and scored 12 second chance points. UNF hit 43.1 percent (25-of-58) from the field while the Spartans connected on 36.9 percent (24-of-65). USC Upstate shot 80.6 percent (25-of31) from the free throw line to UNF's 61.5 percent (8-of-13).
The Ospreys will return to UNF Arena for the final home weekend of the season, hosting Mercer and Kennesaw State on Friday, Feb. 18 and Sunday, Feb. 20, respectively. The Mercer game is set for 4 p.m. and will be UNF's annual PinkZone game. Beginning at noon, the KSU game is “Senior Night” and will be televised on CSS-TV.
