Featured image and video by: Zach Yearwood

In one of their best defensive performances of the season, the UNF women’s basketball team routed the Kennesaw State Owls, 57-33.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=int3YxhavuQ[/embedyt]

The Ospreys’ defense shut down the Owls in the first quarter, holding them to 1-11 shooting.

Dasha Eremeeva had a strong start. She scored the first two baskets of the game for North Florida and led all scoring at the end of the first quarter. The Ospreys ended the quarter up, 12-2.

All the Ospreys starters got on the board in the second quarter including Jazz Bond who scored four in the period.

Despite outscoring the Owls, the Ospreys had no answer for Amani Johnson.

The Kennesaw State guard scored 10 of the Owls’ 13 points in the quarter.

The Ospreys went into halftime leading, 28-15. Bond led the Ospreys in scoring with seven points.

The final two quarters were similar to the first in that the Ospreys defense stymied the Owls offense. North Florida held Kennesaw State to under 10 points in the third and fourth quarters, giving up only nine in each.

Eight of UNF’s 13 steals came in the second half including three from Bond, tying her career-high for takeaways. Rhetta Moore also recorded four steals in the game, three of those coming in the fourth quarter.

“We knew they wanted to get the ball to the post and we wanted to make that as tough as we possibly could,” Head Coach Darrick Gibbs said speaking about the team’s active hands defensively. “Putting a lot of bodies, putting a lot of hands and arms in that path which led to a lot of deflections and then steals.”

It was a big day for Bond, who was everywhere on the floor. Not only did she score 15 points, but the junior forward also came up with six rebounds and a block, along with three steals.

“When it comes to steals, the coaches always say to keep my hands up because of my length,” Bond said. “That helped me out today.”

Dasha Eremeeva also had a strong performance with 12 points, including her fifth made three-pointer this season.

With the win, the Ospreys now move up to 6-2 in the conference (13-8 overall) and sit in second behind Florida Gulf Coast, who are undefeated in conference play this season.

The Ospreys will host Stetson on Monday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.

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