Women's Basketball Ends Home Season With 65-60 Loss to ETSU

Monday, February 25

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

ETSU

Photo by: JC Ridley

2/25/2013 10:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite double-doubles from Destinee Smith and Raneisha Lamar, a cold first half was costly and the University of North Florida women's basketball team fell 65-60 to East Tennessee State Monday night in the Ospreys' home finale.

“We didn't take care of the basketball,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “We shot 19 percent in the first half – 28 for the game. You are not going to win many games shooting the ball that poorly.”

Smith scored a career-high tying 20 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to lead the Ospreys. Meanwhile, Lamar got her eighth double-double of the year with a 12-point, 13-rebound performance.

Cara Bowling tallied a game-high 21 points, while Maria Bond and Tiana Burley added 11 and 10, respectively. Bond also had a team-high eight boards.

UNF was 28.2 percent (20-for-71) from the floor for the game and 19.4 percent (7-for-36) in the first half alone. ETSU shot 39.4 percent, going 26-for-66.

The Ospreys pulled down more rebounds than ETSU, who leads the Atlantic Sun in boards. UNF grabbed 51 rebounds, while ETSU had 46.

A five-and-a-half minute dry spell early in the first half put UNF down by 13 as ETSU took a 20-7 lead at 10:48 on a Shawn Randall jumper. Chandler Merkerson's jumper at 10:30 ended UNF's scoreless streak and was the first of five quick Osprey points that cut ETSU's lead down to eight. However, the Bucs regained a pair of 13-point leads, including with 53 seconds left in the half when a Bowling jumper made it 33-20. Smith knocked down a pair of free throws at 19 seconds and UNF trailed 33-22 going into halftime.

After ETSU went up by 14 on a Maria Bond layup at 13:38, UNF fought back. An 8-0 run brought UNF to within six as a Smith jumper made it a 44-38 game. The Ospreys eventually got as close as four when Jadhken Kerr's pair of foul shots cut it to a 49-45 game with 8:12 to go.

ETSU attempted to pull away and had a nine-point, 63-54 lead with 55 seconds remaining. Back-to-back Smith treys got the Ospreys to within three at 34 seconds, but Bowling made it a five-point game by hitting two foul shots at 31 seconds. The Ospreys tried to get closer, but missed five-straight shots in the final 29 seconds.

UNF returns to the road for its final two games of the regular season. The Ospreys begin their road trip at Northern Kentucky on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.