Ospreys Hold Off Surging CSU Rally, Escape With 82-76 OT Win

Thursday, November 29

Jacksonville, Fla.

5:30 p.m.

University of North Florida

3-2

Charleston Southern

1-5

OT 1

Charleston So.

North Florida

Photo by: Todd Drexler

Ospreys Hold Off Surging CSU Rally, Escape With 82-76 OT Win

11/29/2018 11:46:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Arianna Emanuel-Wright's career night paced five Ospreys in double-figures as North Florida held off a surging Charleston Southern rally to capture an 82-76 overtime victory on Thursday night in UNF Arena.

North Florida moves to 3-2 on the season while Charleston Southern drops to 1-5.

Leaders
UNF
Emanuel-Wright: 25 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists
Lauren Gross: 17 points, 3 rebounds

CSU
Ke'Asia Jackson: 22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Kelsie Ruff-Mills: 15 points, six assists, four rebounds

Inside the 1^st Quarter
UNF and the Buccaneers opened with a back-and-forth battle as the teams traded baskets through the first four minutes. Trailing 6-4, the Ospreys tallied a 13-0 run to take a 17-8 lead with three minutes left. North Florida shot 72.7 percent from the field and a perfect three-for-three from beyond the arc and led 22-13 at the quarter break.

Inside the 2^nd Quarter
Elli Bartley hit a jumper at the 7:07 mark to extend the UNF lead to double digits, 28-17. The Ospreys posted a 9-2 rally to stretch the lead to 41-28 before the Buccaneers cut the lead to 41-35 at the half. Emanuel-Wright followed her seven-point first quarter with eight points in the second quarter.

Inside the 3^rd Quarter
The Buccaneers threatened with multiple attempts of a comeback, making it a four point game halfway through the quarter, but the Ospreys weathered the storm and carried a seven point led into the final quarter. Defense dominated the quarter as the Ospreys shot 35.3 percent from the floor and CSU notched a 25 percent shooting percentage.

Inside the 4^th Quarter
Charleston Southern's offense came alive when the Buccaneers reeled off a 12-4 run to take a 58-57 lead with little over four minutes left in regulation. Junior Dasha Eremeeva netted two go-ahead layups in a span of 60 seconds with her second one coming with 41 seconds left to give UNF a 64-63 lead. Tied a 64, Adrienne Jackson missed two free throws with 0.8 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Inside Overtime
Gross and Ty Purifoy combined to score UNF's first seven points as the Ospreys jumped out to a 71-66 lead with 2:15 remaining. The Buccaneers climbed back and gained their final lead of the game at 75-53 with 58 seconds left. Gross buried a trey in the corner and Emanuel-Wright scored on a layup plus the free throw to make the score 79-75 with 17 seconds left. CSU missed their final three shots and Gross hit back-to-back free throws to clinch the 82-76 victory.

Thoughts From the Top
"Tonight's win was a great team effort. We had multiple people make big time plays for us on both ends of the floor. I love we responded to their runs, and I am looking forward to the continued growth and development of this group." – head coach Darrick Gibbs

Inside the Box Score

North Florida shot 44.8 percent from the field and clipped the Buccaneers in rebounding 42-39 while CSU shot 42.6 percent.
Eremeeva finished with a career-high 12 points and five rebounds.
Gross scored 17 points on five-of-eight shooting from the field, including three-of-six beyond the arc.
Purifoy netted a season-high 11 points with four steals while Rhetta Moore also added 11 points and four steals.
UNF led for 36:12 of the game while Charleston Southern held the advantage in the scoring column for 3:33.
The Ospreys notched advantages in points off turnovers (34-14), points in the paint (42-30) and bench points (39-20).
North Florida improved to 22-3 under Gibbs when scoring 70 or more points, including 2-0 this season.
The overtime victory is the first of 2018-19 season as UNF last won in overtime on Nov. 30, 2017 vs. Bethune-Cookman (70-63).