Women's Basketball Falls 61-57 to USC Upstate on Senior Day

Saturday, February 23

Jacksonville, Fla.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

-1016, 69 ASun

USC Upstate

-1116, 79 ASun

USC Upstate

North Florida

2/23/2013 7:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida women's basketball dropped a 61-57 game to USC Upstate at UNF Arena on Saturday afternoon during Senior Day. Turnovers were costly and plagued the Ospreys, who committed 23 turnovers, including a critical one with eight seconds left in the game.

“We got the ball to one of our options, but we turned it over,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “That was the story of the game. We turned the ball over 23 times against a team that did not press us. If you don't take care of the basketball, you don't get too many opportunities to win a basketball game.”

Raneisha Lamar scored a team-high 13 points, while Ki Conner and Jadhken Kerr tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively. Kerr also added nine rebounds.

Tweety Hawkins and Tee'Ara Copney each notched 13 points for the Spartans. Brittany Starling added 10 points.

UNF shot 40.4 percent (19-for-47) from the field, while USC Upstate was 45.3 percent (24-for-53).

The Ospreys dominated on the boards, grabbing 35 rebounds to the Spartans' 24.

UNF got out to a strong start to the first half, going up by eight on a three-point play by Lamar at 9:07. Lamar made the layup and then hit subsequent foul shot to give the Ospreys at 23-15 lead. USC Upstate responded with a six-point to cut UNF's lead down to two at 5:51. However, the Ospreys went on to outscore USC Upstate 6-2 in the final 5:30 en route to taking a 29-23 advantage into halftime.

USC Upstate came back in the second half to force two ties in the first five minutes, including at 15:01 when a Copney jumper made it 36-36. UNF answered with an 8-0 run that was sparked by a quick Conner layup at 13:21. Conner also capped the run with a three at 12:11 to lift UNF to a 44-36 lead. After a Starling layup cut UNF's lead down to six, Kerr hit a three that gave UNF its largest lead of the day. Kerr's trey at 11:25 put the Ospreys up with a nine-point, 47-38 lead.

However, the Spartans kept chipping away at UNF's lead that tied it up at 51-51 on a Lauren McRoberts three-pointer at 6:29. Four-straight Osprey points broke the tie and gave UNF a 55-51 lead with 5:04 to go, but the Spartans erased UNF's advantage and tied the game once again. A Starling layup at 2:19 forced a 55-55 deadlock.

A layup from Lamar provided UNF with a 57-55 lead at 1:51, but that ended up being the Ospreys' final time ahead as USC Upstate score the game's last six points in the final 58 seconds.

UNF plays its final game of the 2012-13 season at UNF Arena on Monday. The Ospreys host ETSU at 7 p.m.