No. 5 Women's Hoops Takes 50-48 Win Over No. 4 Upstate, Advances to Friday's A-Sun Semifinals

Thursday, March 7

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

University of North Florida

12-18(7-11ASun)

USC Upstate

12-18(8-10ASun)

North Florida

USC Upstate

No. 5 Women's Hoops Takes 50-48 Win Over No. 4 Upstate, Advances to Friday's A-Sun Semifinals

3/7/2013 9:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)
Josil Post-Game Interview
Highlights – UNF vs. USC Upstate
Atlantic Sun Facebook Photo Gallery
Atlantic Sun Insider Blog - UNF's Smith Tuning Up for a Run at a Championship
Live Stats – No. 5 North Florida vs. No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast (Friday)
Live Video – No. 5 North Florida vs. No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast (Friday)
Game Notes - UNF-FGCU
2013 General Shale Atlantic Sun Championship

MACON, Ga. – It came down to the last few possessions and the fifth-seeded University of North Florida women's basketball team posted a 50-48 victory over No. 4 USC Upstate in a close quarterfinal game at the 2013 General Shale Atlantic Sun Women's Basketball Championships on Thursday night at Mercer's Hawkins Arena.

“We kept battling, we kept believing,” said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. “They battled tonight. We don't necessary make people play pretty, but they just kept battling.”

Tied at 46-46 and with the shot clock winding down, Fabiola Josil nailed a critical three-pointer at 49 seconds to put the Ospreys ahead. After USC Upstate's Brittany Starling made a layup at nine seconds to make it a one-point game, Ki Conner made a clutch free throw that sealed the two-point victory.

With the win, UNF advances to Friday's semifinals against top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast at Noon.

“We have to get ready for the No. 1 team in the conference and one of the best teams in the nation,” said Tappmeyer. “It's going to be a quick turnaround.”

Conner led the Ospreys with 13 points, all of which came in the second half. Josil added in 12, while Jadhken Kerr grabbed seven rebounds.

Starling had a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Spartans. Tee'Ara Copney chipped in with 10 points.

USC Upstate out-shot and out-rebounded the Ospreys. The Spartans were 34.6 percent (18-for-52) from the floor and grabbed 42 boards. UNF shot 31.6 percent (18-for-57) and pulled down 31 rebounds.

It was a close game from start to finish and saw seven ties and 10 lead changes. UNF's largest lead came at 13:05 in the first half. Behind a pair of Kerr three's and a Chandler Merkerson layup, the Ospreys went up 12-6. The Spartans eventually forced two ties before UNF went up 20-16 at 3:57 on a pair of Josil free throws. However, USC Upstate closed out the half with a 7-0 run to take a 23-20 lead heading into halftime.

The Spartans got out to a hot start to the second half and used a key 8-0 run to go up by nine – the game's largest lead – at 14:04. A free throw by Starling sparked the run that was capped with a Copney layup and put USC Upstate up 33-24.

After a quick timeout, back-to-back Conner treys jumpstarted a 10-0 Osprey run. UNF re-took the lead on a layup by Raneisha Lamar that put the Ospreys ahead 34-33 at 10:58.

From there, control of the game went back-and-forth in what proved to be the closest of the four quarterfinal games. Neither team took lead greater than three points with three more ties occurring. As USC Upstate went up 46-43 on a pair of Starling free throws, UNF got to within one on a Lamar layup at 3:09. Lamar later had the game-tying point on a free throw at 1:50 that knotted the game up at 46-46.

Friday's semifinal game will air live on CSS/ESPN3. Winner of that semifinal advances to Saturday's Championship where they will face the winner of the Stetson-Mercer semifinal.