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University of North Florida Athletics

Women's basketball senior class of Ty Purifoy and Arianna Emanuel-Wright along with their families pose together at midcourt
54
Liberty LIB 11-14, 7-6 ASUN
66
Winner North Florida UNF 12-13, 7-7 ASUN
Liberty LIB
11-14, 7-6 ASUN
54
Final
66
North Florida UNF
12-13, 7-7 ASUN
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Liberty LIB 10 18 7 19 54
North Florida UNF 23 11 17 15 66

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | North Florida Athletics

Hot Shooting and Strong Defense Help Ospreys Extinguish Flames

JACKSONVILLE -  The North Florida women's basketball team shot 60 percent from long range and limited the Liberty offense to just 26 percent shooting for the game in a near wire-to-wire 66-54 victory on Saturday afternoon in UNF Arena.

Adrienne Jackson and Jazz Bond both finished with 19 points to lead the Osprey attack. Senior Arianna Emanual-Wright pulled down a team best eight rebounds to go along with 11 points and fellow senior Ty Purifoy chipped in nine points while handing out a UNF D1 program record 12 assists.

Leaders
UNF Liberty
  • Emily Lytle | 13 points
  • Kierra Johnson-Graham | 9 points, 12 rebounds

Inside the First Half
After Liberty hit a three to open the game, North Florida answered with six straight before another three by the Flames evened the score. Emanuel-Wright scored on a fastbreak layup to spark a 15-2 run by the Ospreys over the next five minutes giving UNF a lead they would never relinquish. Jackson accounted for 8 points in the run including a pair of threes. Liberty would muster just two free throws in the final 5:40 of the quarter as UNF built a 23-10 first quarter lead. 

North Florida grew its lead to 17 points early in quarter two but then struggled to find an offensive flow going scoreless for nearly 7 minutes. The Flames capitalized on the Osprey drought scoring 13 straight points and cutting the margin to just four points (32-28) with 1:48 left in the half. Emanuel-Wright netted the final points of the half sending UNF into intermission with the 34-28 advantage.

Inside the Second Half
A pair of quick buckets from Emanuel-Wright and Bond pushed the North Florida lead back to double-digits before a 7-2 spurt from the Flames trimmed the lead to six midway through the third session. Again the UNF defense was key, holding the Flames without a point for the remaining 5:22 of the quarter. The Ospreys netted 10 straight points and expanded their lead to 51-35 at the quarter buzzer.

Bond opened the final frame with a three-pointer thanks to the record-setting assist from Purifoy to give the Ospreys their largest lead of the game, 54-35. The two squads would trade baskets and free throws the rest of the contest as North Florida closed out the game for the double-figure win. 

Osprey Fast Breaks
  • Ospreys won the first quarter by 13 points and the third quarter by 10
  • Bond reached double figures for the 16th time
  • North Florida claimed its 7th ASUN win of the season, increasing the season high record under Gibbs
Thoughts From the Top
"Really excited about how we came out of the box in the first quarter. We jumped out early and hit some shots and executed our defensive game plan and also played with some pace and were aggressive in the open court. I thought we responded well in practice the last couple of days coming out after our last performance. We shot the ball well but the biggest thing we did was defend well. They only shot 25 percent from the field and that was a big focus of ours coming into the game. Coming into today, Liberty was playing arguably some of the best basketball in the ASUN and we did a really good job of taking some things away and making other things tough for them. Excited about the win and looking forward to playing these final two in the regular season." - Head coach Darrick Gibbs.

What's Next
North Florida plays its final regular season road contest, Wednesday against Stetson at 7 p.m.

 
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