University of North Florida
No. 5 Jacksonville
UNF Falls Short Against JU, 56-52
3/3/2011 3:27:59 PM | Women's Basketball
BOXSCORE
MACON, Ga. – After falling behind by 15 in the first half, the University of North Florida women's basketball team came back in the second half to take a late lead, but Jacksonville held on for the 56-52 win during the second day of first round action at the 2011 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Conference women's basketball championship.
“We are very disappointed because we won the two games against them in the regular season,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “They won the game that counts, however. I thought they were much more aggressive than we were in the first half both offensively and defensively. I felt that we turned it around in the second half defensively and our defense allowed us to score a little more because we struggled to score in the first half. I am really pleased with how we competed, but we gave up 14 points off our turnovers and 14 points off of offensive rebounds and you're not going to win very many basketball games like that.”
Leading the Ospreys (13-17, 11-9 A-Sun) was junior Brittany Kirkland with 12 points. Senior Juliemay Syquio added 11 while sophomore Taylor Smith posted 10 points. Syquio along with sophomore Larkira Jones grabbed six rebounds each.
JU (14-16, 8-12 A-Sun) was led by Jessica George with 17 points. Lynsey Paschal notched a double-double for the Dolphins with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
UNF struggled in the opening half, starting the game the Ospreys failed to get on the board in the opening five and a half minutes but broke the drought on a jumper from Kirkland at the 14:32 mark to put UNF down 5-2 to JU. The Dolphins went on a 15-4 run to take a 18-6 lead with eight and a half minutes to play. JU took its largest lead of the half with 1:37 left up 15 (31-16) but UNF closed out the half with a 6-0 run to close the gap to nine, 31-22 going into the break.
Coming out of the intermission, the two teams traded baskets coming out of the break as JU held an 11 point, 37-26 lead with 14:09 on the clock. The Ospreys responded with a 13-4 run to cut the lead down to two (41-39) with just over 10 minutes remaining.
UNF and JU kept the game close over the next several minutes, and the Ospreys claimed their first lead of the game with 5:07 left to play as Jadhken Kerr connected on a three pointer to give UNF a 46-44 advantage. In the final minutes the two teams went back and forth with three ties and three lead changes. JU held a 53-50 advantage with 13 seconds left on the clock, but UNF had the ball on the final trip down the court. Syquio took a shot from outside the arc that fell short of the mark.
After getting off to a slow shooting start in the first half (25.8 percent, 8-of-31) the Ospreys bounced back to shoot 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from the field in the second half and tally a 35.2 percent (19-of-54) mark for the game. JU connected on 32.8 percent (20-of-61) from the field. JU held the 43-36 advantage on the boards and forced 18 UNF turnovers while turning the ball over 16 times.
UNF finishes the season with a 13-17 overall mark and 11-9 in conference play. It marks the best conference record for the Ospreys since joining the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2005-06. UNF also tied its most wins in a season with 13 since moving to NCAA Division I status in 2005.
