Jacksonville, Fla. – The University of North Florida women’s basketball team sprinted to a six-point lead in the opening minutes of its home opener against Florida State on Tuesday night and gave the nationally-ranked team all it could handle, but points in the paint and a final surge in the waning minutes helped the Seminoles escape UNF Arena with a 60-49 win.
“They were certainly a bigger, stronger and deeper team,” UNF head coach Mary Tappmeyer said. “But I think they will remember coming and playing in our place. Their stars had to play a lot of minutes and were forced to play well. I am very pleased with the effort put forth by our team tonight.”
Despite all the opposition, UNF (0-2) took hold of a 7-1 lead after less than 90 seconds of play. Sophomore Juliemay Syquio put the first points on the scoreboard when she banked a 12-foot shot off the glass before freshman Jadhken Kerr drained one of her three 3-pointers. After an FSU (2-0) free throw, junior Shennette Sheffield made a strong move on the block to give the Lady Ospreys their biggest lead of the contest.
Led by Jacinta Moore’s five points, the Seminoles pulled within one point (9-8) a little more than three and a half minutes after the Lady Ospreys boasted a six-point edge. Both teams went cold during the next four and a half minutes, collectively amassing eight turnovers and 12 missed shots. FSU grabbed its first lead of the game with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the first half when Alysha Harvin connected on a layup.
The final 10 minutes of the opening period featured five ties and four lead changes. The Lady Ospreys built as much as a three-point lead during the stretch and with 2:40 left in the first half, found themselves knotted with FSU at 20-20. Tanae Davis-Cain scored the final five points of the half to lift the Seminoles to a 25-20 advantage at the break.
“I thought our defensive intensity was much better tonight,” Tappmeyer said. “We played physically and rotated well in our defensive sets.”
In the second half, the Lady Ospreys refused to go away, continually snubbing each spark the Seminoles seemed to find. Early on, FSU went up by six twice, and UNF diminished the spread to just two points both times, using jumpers by Kerr and junior Arlande Cherizol. Within a 79-second span Kerr and fellow freshman Brittany Kirkland each knocked down shots from behind the arc to electrify the crowd of 1,433 and help UNF trail by only three points with a little more than 10 minutes to go.
“It is a great feeling to hit a crucial shot and hear the crowd roar,” Kerr said. “I was able to get some good looks tonight, and my teammates should get the credit for that.”
A pair of free throws by Kirkland at the 6:19 mark again pulled the Lady Ospreys within three, but UNF couldn’t manage to get over the hump and the Seminoles finally began to pull away in the final six minutes. Two Lady Osprey turnovers led to FSU baskets and the visitors notched the biggest lead by either team, nine points (53-44), with a little more than five minutes remaining.
That lead soared as high as 14 points, but Kerr sank another shot from long range to run the score to its final standing of 60-49. Kerr led the Lady Ospreys for the second-straight game, scoring a career high 13 points on a 4-for-9 performance from the field, and snagging a career-high and game-high seven rebounds.
Senior Jennifer Bowen finished with a team second-best eight points while Kirkland added seven points and assists and Cherizol and Sheffield each totaled six points. Senior Jennifer Guldager scored five points and Syquio had four.
Monroe led all scorers in the contest, firing true on her seven of her eight attempts from the floor and seven of her 10 free throw attempts for 21 points. The Seminoles six-foot-four-inch duo of Monroe and Cierra Bravard combined for a 9-for-10 shooting performance and all 26 of FSU’s points in the paint.
FSU also capitalized on 31 Lady Osprey turnovers, scoring 29 points off the UNF mistakes. The Seminoles committed 26 turnovers, but UNF managed only 13 points off those miscues.
The Lady Ospreys will take to the road again at the end of the week, traveling east for a matchup against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. (EST).