Boxscore (PDF)
 
ORLANDO, Fla. – Despite a double-double from Paulina Zaveckaite and double-digit points from both Destinee Smith and Kadesia Johnson, University of North Florida women's basketball could not hold off a late surging UCF team and fell 60-56 on Tuesday at the CFE Arena.
 
"We battled and executed our game plan for 35 minutes, but the last five minutes is what hurt us because we did not stick with what was working," said head coach Mary Tappmeyer. "We made some poor decisions down the stretch and turned the ball over seven times in the last four minutes.  It was a tough game to lose, but we need to learn the lesson and apply it when we get to conference play."
 
Zaveckaite paced the Ospreys with 16 points and 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Smith and Johnson each had 12 points.
 
UNF had its best shooting game thus far of the season, shooting 47.6 percent (20-for-42) from the field. The Ospreys also out-rebounded UCF 39-32. The Knights had entered Tuesday's game averaging 48.2 rebounds per game.
 
Zykira Lewis tallied 21 points for UCF. Aliyah Gregory added in 15 points, while Makenzi Reasor scored 10. Yanique Gordon grabbed a team-best seven boards.
 
UCF shot 33.3 percent (21-for-63) from the field.
 
UNF came out on an 8-0 run in the first five minutes. The Ospreys' strong defense kept UCF off the scoreboard until the 14:34 mark when the Aliyah Gregory sank a pair of free throws. Additionally, UCF did not have a field goal until Andrea Hines' layup at 13:22 that made it 10-4. Hines' layup also sparked a 13-1 UCF run that put the Knights up 15-11 at 6:08.
 
A jumper from Wright at 5:50 pulled the Ospreys to within two, but UCF hit four free throws to extend its lead to 19-13 at 5:01. UNF erased the deficit behind a 9-0 to take a 22-19 lead at 2:29. Janeá Williams' layup provided the Ospreys with the three-point lead. Both teams each got six points in the final 2:01 as UNF had a 28-25 advantage heading into halftime.
 
Seven quick Zaveckaite points lifted UNF to a 35-30 lead at 18:00 in the second half. Although UCF trimmed the Ospreys' lead down to one, UNF used a 17-6 spurt to push its lead to 12 points. A Zaveckaite trey at 6:19 put UNF up 52-40. However, UCF fought back and tied the game at 56-56 on a Lewis trey at 1:10. Nyala Shuler's layup at 37 seconds gave UCF the 58-56 lead. The Ospreys had a couple of three-point shots that just missed and UCF sealed the win with two Gregory free throws.
 
UNF concludes its six-game road swing on Saturday at Tennessee State. Tip-off  is set for 7 p.m., EST from the Gentry Center.