University of North Florida
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UNF Completes Sweep, Defeating Cross-town Rival JU, 55-49
2/8/2011 7:57:09 PM | Women's Basketball
BOXSCORE
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The North Florida women's basketball team controlled play in the first half before fending off a furious second half rally to earn a 55-49 victory Tuesday night over cross-town Atlantic Sun rival Jacksonville at Veterans Memorial Arena.
With the win the Ospreys (11-12, 9-5 Atlantic Sun) earn a season sweep over the Dolphins (11-12, 6-8) for the first time in program history and also secure a spot in the 2011 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. UNF has now won five in a row and nine of its last 10 games.
A balanced UNF attack was led by senior Juliemay Syquio with 12 points and nine rebounds. Junior Brittany Kirkland added 11 points while freshman Jade Givens had 10 points. Sophomores Taylor Smith and Larkira Jones were solid inside with both scoring nine points while grabbing nine and eight rebounds, respectively.
The Dolphins were led by Taneskei Richardson with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Crystal Bell came off the bench to add 12 points for JU while Maggie Wilson hit nine.
“We played really well defensively for 30 minutes, but JU started pressing us and we didn't handle their pressure very well,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “They battled us like we knew they would. JU is a really competitive team and we knew they would look to make a run in the second half. We didn't execute very well down the stretch, but fortunately we had built a big enough lead and were able to come out with the win.”
UNF raced out to the early lead behind the play of guards Kirkland and Syquio. The duo went 5-for-6 from the floor and scored all the points over the opening five minutes allowing the Ospreys to build a 10-2 lead at the first media timeout.
A 16-4 run midway through the half pushed the UNF advantage to double digits at 24-8. The Dolphins finally reached double figures with 2:36 remaining in the period on a jumper by Jade Cargill. UNF carried a 28-12 advantage into halftime.
A smothering defense keyed North Florida's first half dominance as the Ospreys forced 10 turnovers and limited JU to just 5-of-29 (17 percent) shooting. Kirkland led UNF at the break with nine points while Richardson had eight of the Dolphins' 12 points in the half.
The Ospreys continued their solid play coming out of intermission using a 10-4 surge to earn a 20-plus point advantage, 40-18, at the 14:22 mark.
Over the next nine minutes, Jacksonville mounted a comeback trimming the North Florida margin to single digits (49-41) with 5:17 left to play. The Dolphins outscored UNF 23-9 during the stretch and capitalized on several UNF turnovers.
North Florida settled things down for the next couple of minutes of action, but the Dolphins refused to surrender, pulling to within five points, 54-49, in the closing minute. UNF's Givens went 3-of-4 from the line while the Ospreys played solid defense, keeping the Dolphins from a field goal in the final 1:05 of the game to secure the UNF win.
The Ospreys grabbed 48 rebounds to JU's 45. UNF hit 34.0 percent (18-of-53) from the field while holding the Dolphins to 26.9 percent (18-of-67). Both team shot in the 60-percent range from the free throw line with UNF hitting 63.3 percent (19-of-30) and JU connecting on 66.7 percent (10-of-15).
UNF will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 12 at East Tennessee State University. Game time is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Memorial Center.
