Boxscore (PDF) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Senior
Paulina Zaveckaite pulled down a single-game school-record 23 rebounds as University of North Florida women's basketball powered its way to a 62-45 win over Western Carolina on Sunday at UNF Arena in the Hampton Inn Oceanfront Holiday Classic.
"Paulina is a beast on the boards," said head coach
Mary Tappmeyer. "She just sees the ball and goes and gets it. You don't get an opportunity to do what Paulina did very often. That school record has been standing since 2002, so to break that record is pretty special."
Zaveckaite is just the second Osprey in the program's 23-year history to tally 20-or-more rebounds in a game. Skye Barber held the previous record, pulling down 20 boards at USC Upstate on Feb. 9, 2002 when both schools were Division II programs.
Zaveckaite's previous UNF-high was 17 boards in the season-opener against Georgia State. Her previous career-high was 22 and was set against Stetson during when she played her freshman season at USC Upstate.
"Before the game, Coach told us that it was going to be a team effort," said Zaveckaite. "Anyone can go out there and play offense, but we were more focused on playing defense and getting rebounds. Today, I just tried to get every rebound for my guards."
Zaveckaite also led the Ospreys with 17 points, notching her third-consecutive double-double.
Destinee Smith added in 13 points for her ninth-straight double-digit point game, while
Amber Robinson and
Bailey Florin each scored 11 points.
Brittney Wright and Florin dished out eight and six assists, respectively. Janeá Williams tallied 11 rebounds.
In addition to Zaveckaite setting the individual program rebounds records, the Ospreys also established a new program Division I era rebound record. UNF pulled down 59 boards, which broke the previous mark of 56 that was set against Jacksonville on Dec. 3, 2011.
UNF shot 38.3 percent (23-for-60) from the field.
Lindsay Simpson paced Western Carolina with 15 points, while Justin Taylor added 12 points. Ali Lane grabbed a team-best six rebounds.
Western Carolina shot 25.0 percent (15-for-60) from the field and only tallied 31 rebounds.
"It feels awesome to play this well in front of our fans," said Tappmeyer. "I'm really proud of the team. To play back-to-back games is tough, but the girls bought into the defensive game plan and did a great job at executing it. Western Carolina is a very strong offensive team. For us to hold them to 25.0 percent shooting speaks a lot about our defense."
In the first half, UNF saw two early eight-point leads disappear as Western Carolina tied the game at 17-17 on a pair of Emily Hatfield free throws at 8:35. The Ospreys answered with a six-point run to quickly gain a 23-17 lead at 4:39. The Ospreys pushed their lead to seven with a Zaveckaite layup at 1:17 to make it 21-19. A jumper from Lane with 43 seconds left in the half brought UNF's lead down to five and the Ospreys ultimately carried a 26-21 advantage into halftime.
Five of UNF's first six buckets in the second half came from three-point range as the Ospreys quickly separated themselves from Western Carolina.
Flo Ward had three of those treys, including the one at 12:14 that put UNF up 43-29. Although back-to-back Simpson three-pointers cut the Ospreys' lead down to eight, a Zaveckaite layup at 10:00 returned a double-digit lead to the Ospreys and started a 9-1 run. A Smith layup at 3:25 capped the run as UNF took a 52-36 advantage. UNF eventually built up a 20-point lead, going ahead 62-42 on a Robinson layup with 20 seconds remaining.
At the conclusion of the game, the All-Classic Team was selected. Zaveckaite was tabbed the MVP and was joined by UNF's Robinson, Western Carolina's Justin Taylor, FIU's Marita Davydova and Wofford's Jordan Frazier.
UNF has the next week off and returns to action next Sunday at Florida. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m., at the O'Connell Center and the game will air on the SEC+ Network.
