Thursday, January 22, 2009

DELAND, Fla. – Freshman Brittany Kirkland paced the University of North Florida women's basketball team Thursday night against Stetson by scoring a career-high 24 points en route to a 62-52 decision and the Lady Ospreys' second Atlantic Sun Conference win of the season.

"We haven’t had many situations where we were able to play with a lead, and doing that tonight was fun," UNF head coach Mary Tappmeyer said. "Shooting the ball well also added energy to the team."

UNF (3-15, 2-7 A-Sun) notched a .397 shooting percentage, including a .542 mark in the second half. Kirkland tallied thirteen points after the break, knocking down six of her nine second-half shot attempts. Playing all 20 minutes of the second frame, Kirkland saw a career-high 39 minutes of action Thursday night.

"Brittany continues to improve each night," Tappmeyer said. "As well as she played on the offensive end, I was more pleased with her defensive presence. She limited Stetson’s top player Sharnesha Smith to only 11 points. That was a key for us tonight and Brittany stepped up and bought into the defensive philosophy."

Smith and the Hatters (7-11, 4-5) sank only .208 percent of their shots in the first half against a Lady Osprey defense that limited the home team to just 17 points in the opening half. The occurrence marks the first time this season UNF has held an opponent to less than 20 points in a single half.

The first half of action featured six lead changes and one tie. At the 6:51 mark, Kirkland flushed a jumper that put UNF on top 12-11, and the Lady Ospreys never trailed again. After leading by as many as eight, UNF took a 23-17 lead into the locker room at the half.

Sophomore Juliemay Syquio buried the first basket of the second half before Kirkland nailed a pair of free throws and a jumper to push the Lady Osprey lead into double digits at 30-19 a little less than four minutes into the second half.