Women's Basketball Falls to Stetson, 71-57

Saturday, January 5

DeLand, Fla.

1 p.m.

University of North Florida

Stetson

1/5/2013 3:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)

DELAND, Fla. – University of North Florida women's basketball dropped a 71-57 game to Stetson on Saturday afternoon at the Edmunds Center in the Ospreys' first conference road game of the season.

“We have got to protect the ball better and play with a stronger sense of purpose with a tougher mentality,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “This was not the team that we've seen in the last couple of games. I was disappointed in our effort on both ends of the floor. You have to give Stetson credit because they battled from the get-go and made sure they defended their home court. You have to be ready to compete for all 40 minutes when you face the conference's top team on their home floor.

“We faced some adversity today and we did not handle it well at all,” concluded Tappmeyer.

Shayla Wilson led UNF with nine points, while Jadhken Kerr pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.

Shanasa Sanders led Stetson with 19 points and Sasha Sims and Jama Sharp each added 11. Sanders also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

UNF was outshot and out-rebounded. The Ospreys were 35.3 percent (18-for-51) from the field and grabbed 31 boards. Stetson shot 46.7 percent (28-for-60) and pulled down 35 rebounds.

Early turnovers resulted in UNF needing to claw its way out of a 12-point deficit. Stetson went up 19-7 at 11:53 on a Sanders jumper. UNF fought back and pulled to within four behind a 10-2 run. Treys from Chandler Merkerson and Kerr bookended the run as Stetson held a 21-17 lead with 7:51 to go. However, the Hatters limited UNF to just two field goals in the final 4:54 en route to taking a 33-23 lead at halftime.

UNF had to contend with a hot-shooting Stetson team that was 55.6 percent from the floor in the second half. Stetson extended its lead to as much as 22 points on several occasions, including at 1:50 when a Sims jumper made it 71-49. The Ospreys were able to cut into Stetson's advantage and finished the game on an 8-0 run.

UNF wraps up its first conference road trip of the year on Monday at Florida Gulf Coast. Tip-off is set for 5:15 p.m.