Even with five Ospreys in double digit scoring and a double-double, it was not enough for North Florida to get the win over Morehead State University, falling 65-84.
“We’ve got to continue to work and get better. We know what are issues are and we have to buy in and fix them,”said Head coach Darrick Gibbs. “We’ve got to play with more of a sense of urgency. We can’t let opportunities slip by.”
During the first quarter it looked like UNF was definitely going to come out on top. North Florida went on a 5-0 run to bring the score to 14-5.
Sierra Shepherd played like a human highlight reel during the first quarter. During the first quarter alone the guard had seven points. On the game Shepherd had 10 points and a team-high three steals.
Going into the second quarter, North Florida had a comfortable 23-16 lead over MSU.
Out of the break, the Eagles struck first with three consecutive buckets. MSU would go on a 8-0 run to start the second quarter, bringing the score to 24-23 in the Eagles advantage.
After over three minutes without scoring, Simone Brown ended the run with a three pointer, giving UNF the advantage once again.
Brown had a team-high 15 points in addition to four rebounds.
North Florida was unable to contain Aaliyah Wells of Morehead State during the first half. Wells had 21 points in the first half, finishing with a game-high 25 points by the end of the night.
Tesh Hanson earned her second double-double of her Osprey career — the only one of the night — with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
Turnovers killed the Ospreys, slowly but surely. North Florida had a total of 25 turnovers, and to make matters worse MSU converted them into 35 points.
“We worked on [reducing turnovers] all week,” said Gibbs.”That’s the discouraging part. I thought we had a good plan in place, we just didn’t come through.”
Without the mistakes this could have been a completely different game.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Do you have any suggestions?” said Gibbs when he was asked what they could do to reduce turnovers.
Claire Ioannidis and Karrah Johnson both contributed 10 points each to the Ospreys total.
Brown scored the last points for UNF, late in the fourth when she downed her fourth three pointer, but the damage was irreversible. UNF lost the match 65-84.
“We can’t get this one back, but we have an opportunity to get another one on Thursday,” said Gibbs.
Ospreys look to recover at Bethune Cookman on Dec. 15 with tip off at 3 p.m.
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Ernest Garcia • Jan 10, 2017 at 2:48 am
Brown scored the last points for UNF, late in the fourth when she downed her fourth three pointer, but the damage was irreversible. UNF lost the match 65-84.