University of North Florida
Mercer (PinkZone/Homecoming)
UNF Downs Mercer, 70-49
2/18/2011 6:26:26 PM | Women's Basketball
BOXSCORE
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Sophomore Larkira Jones scored 18 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to lead the University of North Florida women's basketball team past Mercer, 70-49 on Friday evening in Atlantic Sun Conference action at UNF Arena.
UNF's (12-14, 10-7 A-Sun) Jones hit 72.7 percent on 8-of-11 from the field for a career-high in points. In addition, she posed four blocks and two steals. Junior Brittany Kirkland added 17 points while senior Juliemay Syquio tallied nine assists. Freshman Jade Givens tallied three steals in the game.
The Bears (2-24, 2-15 A-Sun) were led by Brianna Williams, who hit 21 of her 25 game points in the first half. Brittnee Hazel had nine points while Alex Phillips added eight points and tallied 13 rebounds.
“I was really proud of our defensive effort in the second half and thought it was one of our best defensive performances of the season so far,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “I thought Kim [Baker] did a great job on Williams in the second half and Larkira [Jones] a beast on both ends of court today. I thought we got good minutes from Raneisha [Lamar] and Margaret Bell. One of our emphases going into this game was rebounding and I thought we did a great job on both ends of the floor.”
In the opening half, UNF got out to an 11 point, 16-5 lead at the 11:23 mark, but the Bears came back with an 11-0 run to close the gap to two with 9:05 left in the half. The Ospreys extended their lead back to six (24-18) with just over five minutes remaining, but Mercer again answered with a run to tie the game at 24 with just under two minutes to play. The two teams traded baskets over the final minutes and went into the break tied at 28.
The two teams kept it close coming out of the break with UNF holding a 33-30 advantage after two and a half minutes of play. UNF then went on an 18-3 run to go up by 19 (51-32) with 12:46 left in the game. The Bears would get it down to 12 (57-45) with just under five minutes remaining, but the Ospreys closed out the game with a 13-4 run to secure the win.
UNF hit 43.5 percent (30-of-69) and 33.3 percent (2-of-6) from behind the arc. The Bears connected on 36.5 percent (19-of-52) from the field and also hit 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from outside. UNF dominated on the boards, grabbing 50 rebounds to Mercer's 33, and scoring 18 second chance points. The Ospreys forced 20 Mercer turnovers and connected on 27 points off turnovers while the Bears hit just 11 points off 12 UNF turnovers.
The Ospreys will be back on the court on Sunday, Feb. 20, hosting Kennesaw State in the final home game of the season. UNF will honor seniors Juliemay Syquio and DeAdria Hilliard in a pre-game ceremony. Sunday's game will also be televised on Comcast Sports South.
