Women's Basketball Rallies for 64-61 Home-Opening Win Against Vermont

Saturday, November 24

Jacksonville, Fla.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

1-4

Vermont

2-4

Vermont

North Florida

Women's Basketball Rallies for 64-61 Home-Opening Win Against Vermont

11/24/2012 5:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A strong second half and three clutch free throws were the difference as University of North Florida women's basketball came back for exciting 64-61 win over Vermont on Saturday at UNF Arena during the Ospreys' home-opener.

“This team is really driven by offense, not defense as much as I would like it to be,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “When you make shots, your defense gets a lot better more quickly. You have more energy on defense when you're making shots.”

UNF hit six free throws down the stretch, including three coming from Jadhken Kerr in the final 34 seconds that broke a 61-61 tie.

“She made three big free throws,” said Tappmeyer.

After a back-and-forth start to the game, Vermont used a 7-0 run to go up 22-15 with 4:54 to go in the first half. UNF chipped away at the Catamounts' lead and pulled to within five on a layup by Jasmine Hicks at 1:23. However, Tierra Shumpert hit a jumper at 1:02 and Vermont took a 30-23 advantage into halftime.

UNF came out on fire after the break, using an 11-2 run to go up by two. A Destinee Smith layup at 16:48 put the Ospreys up 34-32. However, Vermont responded with three-straight treys and went up 41-34 at 14:51 on a Kylie Atwood three. The Catamounts eventually had a 9-5 scoring spurt in order to go up 50-39 at 7:33.

The Ospreys continued to claw back. A pair of Bre Crum free throws at 7:28 was just the start of the Ospreys' rally. Ki Conner hit three critical treys in the game's final 7:16 that kept UNF close to Vermont. Conner's third trey came at 2:22 and cut the Catamounts' lead down to a five-point, 61-56 advantage. A jumper from Crum at 1:45 made a three-point game. A Vermont foul 20 seconds later put Kerr on the line for two shots and she converted on both of them to make to 61-60 at 1:23.

On the in-bounds play, Crum swiped to ball and then was fouled. Crum made one of her shots in order to tie the game at 61-61. Then a costly foul by Vermont put Kerr on the line for three shots that proved to be the game-winners.

Conner led UNF with 14 points with four three-pointers. Fabiola Josil and Raneisha Lamar each had 10 points. Lamar also pulled down eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Josil had three key steals – all of which came in the second half.

Shumpert led all scorers with 21 points. Gracia Hutson and Niki Taylor each had eight rebounds.

UNF shot 40.0 percent (20-for-50) for the game. Vermont was 39.3 percent (22-for-56) from the field, including 50 percent (9-for-18) from three-point range. The Catamounts also held a 38-31 advantage in rebounds.

The Ospreys return to action on Wednesday morning with their Elementary School Day. UNF hosts Bethune-Cookman at UNF Arena at 11 a.m.