Saturday, January 21, 2012

MACON, Ga. –Senior Brittany Kirkland scored 17 second-half points and junior Larkira Jones tied UNF's all-time career blocks record as University of North Florida women's basketball held off Mercer 49-39 on Saturday at the University Center.

Kirkland scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Ospreys (8-12, 5-4 Atlantic Sun). Jones and Raneisha Lamar pulled down 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.

Briana Williams and Jasmine Blackmore each tallied eight points for the Bears (3-17, 1-8 Atlantic Sun). Sharmesia Smith grabbed eight boards.

Jones entered Saturday's game with 103 career blocks. She had two blocks in the first half to tie Shennette Sheffield's mark of 105. Jones' first block of the game came at 9:14, while her record-tying block was at 4:46 in the first half when she stopped Tabitha Bradshaw's jumper.

Poor shooting from both teams led to a low-scoring first half. UNF led by as many as five when Destinee Smith's three-pointer fell through just as the shot clock expired and put the Ospreys up 12-7 at 10:39. Mercer cut into UNF's lead, tying the game twice before Teanna Robinson's layup with 59 seconds to go gave the Bears a 19-18 lead, which was the score heading in to halftime.

UNF came out firing in the second half, shooting 53.8 percent and outscoring Mercer 19-8 to go up 37-27 at 10:46. The Ospreys pushed their lead to 12 as Kirkland connected on a jumper at 10:14 to make it 39-27. However, Mercer took advantage of a long Osprey scoring drought and pulled to within two with a Sharmesia Smith free throw at 2:01 made it a 39-37 game in favor of UNF.

A jumper by Kirkland and two foul shots by Fabiola Josil gave the Ospreys a six-point advantage with 34 seconds to go. Precious Bridges' jumper at 29 seconds brought the Bears to within four, but UNF closed out the game by making six-straight foul shots.

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