Women's Basketball Falls Short at Mercer, 51-49

Saturday, February 9

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

University of North Florida

-1013, 66 ASun

Mercer

-157, 92 ASun

North Florida

Mercer

2/9/2013 5:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)

MACON, Ga. – Missed free throws hurt University of North Florida women's basketball on Saturday afternoon as Mercer escaped with a 51-49 win at Hawkins Arena.

“It was a missed opportunity,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “We have to be tougher on the road.”

Jadhken Kerr led the Ospreys with 16 points, while Ki Conner and Raneisha Lamar totaled 13 and 10 points, respectively. Lamar pulled down seven rebounds and Fabiola Josil dished out six assists.

Ry'van Buchanan also had 16 points for Mercer and Kendra Grant added 15. Precious Bridges chipped in with 12. Sharnea Boykin handed out nine assists.

UNF shot 41.7 percent (20-for-48) from the floor, but was 42.9 percent from the free throw line (3-for-7). All of the Ospreys' foul shots came in the second half.

Mercer was 38.6 percent (22-for-57) from the floor. The Bears also held a 40-28 advantage in rebounds.

UNF got out to a hot start and led by as many as 10 when Kerr hit a trey at 12:44 to make it 14-4. Mercer was able to erase the Ospreys' advantage, and behind a 13-2 run, took a 17-16 lead on a Bridges jumper at 4:56. Mercer went up by as many as four on two occasions, including at 2:08 when the Bears held a 22-18 lead. Five-straight points from Kerr returned the lead to the Ospreys, who were up 23-22 with 1:14 to go in the half. However, Alicia Williams hit a foul shot at 26 seconds the UNF and Mercer went into halftime tied 23-23.

Control went back and forth between UNF and Mercer in the first couple of minutes of the second half. However, after a 29-29 tie, Mercer used a 13-4 run to pull away from UNF and go up 42-33 at 8:01 on a Grant jump.

UNF fought back and eventually tied the game at 46-46 when Conner swished a trey at 1:41. After another Grant jumper put Mercer up by one, UNF responded with a Kerr trey with 46 seconds to go and went up 49-48.

A Bridges jumper returned the lead to Mercer, who was up 50-49 at 21 seconds. UNF had a chance to tie the game with 11 seconds to go, but was not able to convert on the front-end of a one-and-one. Then Bridges hit the first of two free throws with three seconds left in order to allow Mercer to take a two-point win.

UNF returns to action on Monday night at Kennesaw State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.