ATLANTA, Ga. – The North Florida women's basketball team will be back in action on Saturday afternoon for a road game against Georgia State (2-4). The game will be televised live on ESPN3 (WatchESPN App) at 2:00 p.m.
Record Setting Saturday: The Ospreys set a new school record by draining 18 three-pointers in the final game of the UNF Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday afternoon. They shattered a near 10-year old program mark of 15 set on Feb. 2 2005. The previous D-1 era
(2005-present) mark was 13 set on Dec. 19 2012.
Clutch Threes: Amongst all the three pointers on Saturday no two shots were more important than those put up by
Hadley Kiefer and
Claire Ioannidis towards the end of the game. Trailing by three, Kiefer knocked down her fourth long ball of the game with just 1.7 seconds remaining in regulation to tie game at 65 and send the game in overtime. Ioannidis was true from the right wing with 7.1 seconds left in overtime to put the Ospreys up 74-72.
All-Tournament Honors: Sierra Shepherd earned All-Tournament honors after back-to-back double digit scoring efforts at the UNF Thanksgiving Classic. On Friday she was 5-for-10 from the field and tallied 12 points in a 53-49 loss to Bethune-Cookman. In Saturday's win she hit a team-high five three-pointers en route to a season-high 15 points.
Much Needed Rest: The Ospreys come into Saturday's game on six days rest, their longest stretch without a game this season. The rest is well deserved after playing four games in seven days beginning with Purdue on Nov. 21 and ending with Towson on Sat. Nov. 28.
Overtime: North Florida continued its recent success in extra time. Dating back to 2012, the Ospreys have won the last three overtime games including two last season.
Crashing the Boards: For the first time this season, the Ospreys had two players record double-digit rebounds. On Saturday, sophomore
Maiya Rumph pulled down 10 rebounds for the second-straight game. In addition, senior
Kadesia Johnson established a new career high with 11 boards which included three on the offensive end.
Last Meeting: The Ospreys and Panthers opened up the 2014-15 season at UNF Arena and Georgia State came away with a 72-59 victory. The Ospreys were riddled by turnovers in the contest, committing 28, the second most they would total in a single game all season.
About Georgia State: Like the Ospreys, Georgia State went 1-1 in its own Thanksgiving Classic with a win over Howard on Saturday and a loss to Charlotte on Sunday. Sophomore Mokeba Ponder leads the Panthers in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game. Georgia State has nine players seeing significant action by averaging over 12 minutes per game. At 2-5, the only other win this season has come against Atlantic Sun foe, Kennesaw State, 66-62 in the season-opener.
