Kirkland Eclipses 1,500, But Women's Hoops Drops 71-65 Game at USC Upstate

Thursday, February 9

Spartanburg, S.C.

7 pm

University of North Florida

-916, 68 ASun

USC Upstate

-717, 67 ASun

Team	1	2	F
North Florida	31	34	65
USC Upstate	31	40	71

Kirkland Eclipses 1,500, But Women's Hoops Drops 71-65 Game at USC Upstate

2/9/2012 9:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

Boxscore (PDF)
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Brittany Kirkland surpassed the 1,500-point plateau at USC Upstate and University of North Florida women's basketball rallied late in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the Ospreys fell to USC Upstate 71-65 at the Hodge Center.

Coming into the game, Kirkland needed just seven points to reach the milestone. She got it at the 8:14 mark in the second half as a layup put her at 1,501 career points. She is the 24th player in Atlantic Sun history to reach that mark. She joins UNF's Skye Barber as the only players with 1,500+ career points and is the first to accomplish the feat in UNF's Division I years. Kirkland also got her 1,000th point against the Spartans on Jan. 15, 2010.

Kirkland ended up leading the Ospreys (9-16, 6-8 Atlantic Sun) with 19 points and got a majority of those in the second half. She was responsible for UNF's final 11 points. Raneisha Lamar grabbed a team-best nine rebounds and Jadhken Kerr chipped in with 11 points.

Tyra Smith led a quartet of Spartans (7-17, 6-7 Atlantic Sun) in double-digit scoring. Tyra Smith also had 19 points with Paulina Zaveckaite adding 16. Hannah Ohl and Tee'Ara Copney each had 11 points. Shelby Hicks also grabbed nine rebounds.

UNF shot 35.3 percent for the game and was 24-for-68 from the field.

USC Upstate was 45.3 percent behind 24-for-53 shooting and also held a 41-39 advantage in rebounds.

The first half was low scoring to start as the teams combined for just 23 points midway through. UNF led by as many as five before the Spartans used a 15-4 run to take a six-point, 23-17 advantage at 5:18. The Ospreys fought back and tied the game at 23-all on back-to-back threes from Destinee Smith and Octavia Langston. UNF and USC Upstate battled it out in the final three minutes of the half. With the Spartans up by two, Langston hit a jumper at three seconds that tied the game at 31-31 heading into halftime.

UNF had to contend with a hot-shooting USC Upstate team in the second half. The Spartans ended up shooting 51.9 percent during that half (14-for-27). USC Upstate led by as many as 13 with a Copney layup at 9:54 making it 53-40. UNF continued to fight back and gradually chipped away at USC Upstate's lead. The Ospreys came to within two on a Kirkland jumper that made it 65-63 with 1:52 to go. Two Copney free throws put the Spartans up by four, but Kirkland sank her two foul shots at 25 seconds as USC Upstate was up 67-65. However, that was the closest UNF could get as the Spartans made four foul shots to close out the game.

UNF returns to action on Saturday at ETSU. Tip of is set for 1:30 p.m., and is the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team.