Women's Hoops Hangs On For 66-63 Win Over Jacksonville In SunTrust River City Rumble

Saturday, January 19

Jacksonville, Fla.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

-810, 43 ASun

Jacksonville

-711, 34 ASun

Jacksonville

North Florida

Women's Hoops Hangs On For 66-63 Win Over Jacksonville In SunTrust River City Rumble

1/19/2013 5:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)
Post-Game Video

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For the second straight meeting, it looked like the game between University of North Florida women's basketball and Jacksonville would come down to the wire. However, the Ospreys held off a surging Jacksonville team in the final minutes in order to lead from start to finish and capture a 66-63 win on Saturday afternoon at UNF Arena in the SunTrust River City Rumble.

“Anytime you play JU, it's going to be a battle,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer.

Jadhken Kerr, Destinee Smith and Chandler Merkerson all reached double-digits in scoring. Kerr tallied 14 points and was 4-for-8 from three-point range, while pulling down a team-best six rebounds. Smith posted 13 points and Merkerson had 10 points behind 5-for-6 shooting. Fabiola Josil dished out six assists and also had all five of UNF's steals.

Tracie Sneed paced the Dolphins with 15 points. Sneed and Jade Cargill each grabbed a game-best eight rebounds.

UNF out-shot Jacksonville, but the Dolphins had a 40-36 advantage in rebounds. The Ospreys were 43.5 percent from the field (27-for-62) and Jacksonville shot 41.7 percent (25-for-60).

UNF jumped out to an early 10-point lead in the first half, going up 14-4 on a Kerr three at 16:07. The Ospreys continued to build upon their lead and went up by as many as 17 late in the half on back-to-back treys from Kerr and Ki Conner. Jacksonville trimmed UNF's lead down to 13 behind a pair of free throws and a Cargill layup. A key steal from Josil allowed her to race down the court to make a layup in the final second of the half and UNF took a 41-26 lead at halftime. UNF's 41 points was the most it has scored in the opening half this season.

Coming out of the break, Jacksonville used a 13-3 run to cut its deficit to just five. Ronisha Mitchell hit a three at 13:03 that made it 44-39 in favor of UNF. Conner halted the Dolphins' run with a pair of made free throws, but Briona Brown brought it back to a five-point game with a layup at 12:21.

Merkerson came up big for UNF on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball during the next few plays. She had a layup at 11:57 to put UNF up by seven (48-41) once again and then came up with a huge block on Cargill and got the rebound just 11 seconds later.

UNF eventually was able to go up by eight when Merkerson had a layup at 9:04 to make it 55-47. The Dolphins answered with a 6-0 run that brought it to a close two-point game. Britney Holliday sank a three at 7:49 as UNF held on to a slim 55-53 lead.

Smith powered her way to a 6-0 run behind a layup and two jumpers that gave the Ospreys an eight-point cushion and a 61-53 advantage with 5:18 to go. Jacksonville kept fighting back and pulled to within three on a jumper by Stephanie Edwards at 43 seconds, but a tough Osprey defense prevented the Dolphins from getting any closer.

UNF returns to the road for its next two games. The Ospreys take on ETSU next Saturday in Johnson City, Tenn., at 1:30 p.m.