No. 4 Women's Basketball's Season Ends in Heartbreak to No. 5 Kennesaw State

Thursday, March 1

Macon, Ga.

12 pm

University of North Florida

13-17 (10-8ASun)

Kennesaw State

14-16 (8-10ASun)

Team	1	2	F
Kennesaw State	16	35	51
North Florida	26	23	49

Photo by: JC Ridley

No. 4 Women's Basketball's Season Ends in Heartbreak to No. 5 Kennesaw State

3/1/2012 2:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)
Complete Book

MACON, Ga. – Late second-half mistakes doomed the fourth-seeded University of North Florida women's basketball team as the Ospreys fell 51-49 to fifth-seeded Kennesaw State in the first round of the 2012 General Shale Women's Basketball Championships at Mercer's University Center on Thursday.

Larkira Jones led UNF with a 14-point, 15-rebound double-double and four blocks. Brittany Kirkland added 11 points.

Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year Taylor Mills paced the Owls with 16 points, while Lisa Capellan added 11. Sametria Gideon pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds.

UNF shot 35.1 percent for the day, going 20-for-57 from the floor. Kennesaw State was 28.6 percent (18-for-63). The Ospreys also held a slight 47-46 advantage in rebounds.

All of UNF's 26 first-half points were two-point buckets. With Kennesaw State up by three, a Jones layup started a 14-3 run that allowed the Ospreys to go up 20-12 with 4:37 to go. The Owls cut UNF's lead down to five before the Ospreys outscored Kennesaw State 6-1 in the final 1:36 to take a 26-16 advantage into halftime.

UNF used a 6-0 run to start the second half and go up 32-16 with 17:59 to go. However, Kennesaw State answered with a 9-0 run of its own over the next two minutes to make it a 32-25 game. A layup by Jones and a trey from Jadhken Kerr put the Ospreys up by 12. However, the Owls gradually chipped away at UNF's lead. With UNF up by 11, Kennesaw State capitalized on missed field goals and used a 7-1 run to cut the Ospreys' lead down to five as UNF held a 45-40 lead with 4:08 to go. Although a pair of Kirkland free throws put UNF up by seven, several UNF miscues resulted in Kennesaw eventually taking a 49-48 lead when Mills hit a layup at 20 seconds. Kirkland tied the game at 49-49 with a free throw at five seconds, but a costly UNF foul put Mills at the line to make two free throws.

With the win, Kennesaw State advances to Friday's semifinals against top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast. UNF's season comes to an end with a 13-17 overall record and a 10-8 mark in the Atlantic Sun.