#WBB Soars to 62-44 Win Over Samford

Monday, November 18

Jacksonville, Fla.

5:30 p.m.

University of North Florida

2-2

Samford

1-2

Samford

North Florida

11/18/2013 8:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Another consistent shooting game powered University of North Florida women's basketball to a 62-44 victory over Samford on Monday night at UNF Arena.

"We shot the ball very well and we took better care of it," said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. "We have a lot of depth, so we're still trying to figure out where all the pieces fit. We got a lot of scoring potential."

UNF shot 50.0 percent (21-for-42), marking its second-straight 50-or-better percent shooting game. Last Thursday, the Ospreys shot 55.0 percent against Edward Waters.

Chandler Merkerson and Destinee Smith each scored 14 points, while Ki Conner added in 11. Merkerson and Raneisha Lamar each grabbed seven rebounds and Brittney Wright dished out five assists.

Samford shot 26.9 percent (14-for-52) and made most of its field goals in the second half. Krista Stricklin scored a game-high 15 points, while Hannah Nichols tallied 14. Nichols also grabbed a team-best six rebounds.

UNF took advantage of Samford's cold shooting in the first half. The Bulldogs were just 12.6 percent (3-for-25) from the floor in the opening half. UNF jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the game. Samford did not get its first points until the 10:11 mark when Stricklin hit a three. Although the Bulldogs cut UNF's lead down to seven twice, a 12-0 run pushed the Ospreys' lead to 19. A trey by Conner at 2:38 capped the run as UNF went up 30-11. Nichols hit a trey at 2:08, but Smith hit a free throw with 25 seconds to go in the half and UNF entered halftime holding a 17-point, 31-14 lead.

The Ospreys opened the second half with a 9-2 run in order to extend their lead to 24 points. Conner drilled a three-pointer at 16:00 and UNF took a 40-16 lead. An 11-3 run allowed Samford to trim UNF's lead down to 16 with a Nichols trey at 12:48 making it 43-27, but Smith responded with a three at 12:21 to make it 46-27.

Both teams struggled to get points over the next six minutes as Samford had only a layup from Lydia McGee at 9:24 and the Ospreys only got a foul shot from Lamar at 7:57. UNF's next field goal did not come until 6:26 when Lamar made a layup to make it 49-29. Samford brought UNF's lead down to 17 twice in the final 4:46, including at 3:21 when another Nichols three made it 56-39. UNF pushed its advantage to 21 points twice, once at 1:45 on a Janeá Williams layup and then again with 21 seconds to go on a pair of made free throws from Merkerson made it 62-41. However, Stricklin hit a long-three just as time expired for the game's final bucket.

UNF returns to action this weekend when the Ospreys venture to Burlington, Vt., for the TD Bank Classic. The Ospreys begin the tournament against host Vermont on Friday at 7 p.m. Winner of the UNF-Vermont game faces the winner of the Green Bay-Siena game on Saturday at 7 p.m., while two losers play at 5 p.m., on Saturday.