Video by Jas Chung

The women’s basketball team (10-12 overall, 3-4 ASUN) upset the No.25 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles(20-4, 6-1 ASUN) 75-73 for their first loss in the ASUN on Feb.1 at the UNF arena.  

Head Coach Darrick Gibbs was pleased with the performance from his team, who worked together as a cohesive unit.

“I can honestly say for the first time all season we executed a game plan for forty minutes,” Gibbs said. “We made play after play after play, and responded to every run that they made and responded to all the adversity that came about.”

The Ospreys had a fast start early in the first quarter, but had several miscues as well. Despite the errors, the Ospreys’ defense held the Eagles from capitalizing on the opposite end.  The rest of the first quarter went back and forth with Keonna Farmer ending the quarter with a three-pointer to give the Ospreys a 18-13 lead.

The second quarter picked up where it left off as the game continued to be bucket for bucket. North Florida’s turnovers kept the Eagles in the contest throughout the half.

With two quarters down, North Florida had only missed one of its six from behind the arc. While the three-point game was flowing, missed free throws seem to be crippling the Ospreys as they only made half at the line.  

At the break, North Florida held a slim 33-32 lead over the visiting team.

The second half started back and forth with five lead changes in the opening minutes. Turnovers started getting to UNF again, which FGCU capitalized from unlike in the first half.

North Florida had 14 miscues compared to seven from Florida Gulf Coast.

The Eagles began to dominate inside the paint compared to the Ospreys’ struggle inside. Florida Gulf Coast used their size inside to take advantage of offensive rebounds, which converted into baskets from behind the arc.

UNF did not stay out the fight, and were able to end the quarter trailing 55-50

A fast paced fourth quarter closed the gap for UNF with Tesh Hanson as one of the senior ringleader on both sides of the court. Hanson racked up 16 points for the night. The home team forced more fouls from the Eagles, and knocked down their free throws when they went to the line.

The intensity level of the game rose when Ty Purifoy sunk a three-pointer to snatch the lead back 63-61. While the Ospreys regained the lead, they lost Purifoy due to severe leg pains that sidelined her for the final stretch of the matchup. She ended her night with 13 points.

Down the stretch, Florida Gulf Coast managed to have the game within reach, and take the lead once more as they battled back and forth with North Florida.

UNF’s defense shifted to limit FGCU’s converted basket, which forced the visiting team to foul them as the game clock winded down to seal the home team’s victory.

Keonna Farmer finished the night with 28 points, and led two other teams in double digits.

North Florida shot 50 percent from the field compared to 45 percent from Florida Gulf Coast. From behind the arc, the Ospreys knocked down 72 percent while the Eagles only completed 30 percent.

“Well we been in the gym all week working on our jump shot because we know that was going to be key to winning in the game,” Farmer said. “ We really focused in hard on it this week, and it paid off.”

The women’s basketball team will stay at home to in a Stetson rematch on Feb.3 at 2 p.m. at the UNF Arena.  

Gallery • 12 Photos

Photos by Joslyn Simmons

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