DeLand, Fla. - Junior guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) notched 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists and junior center Daphnee Frieson (Mobile, Ala.) added a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double with five blocks to lead the Stetson women's basketball team (2-12, 2-3 Atlantic Sun) to a 68-62 win over A-Sun rival Jacksonville (3-10, 2-3 A-Sun) at the Edmunds Center on Thursday. Brown's rebound total was a season high while Frieson became the first Hatter to block five shots in a single game since Kaisa Tuure did it against Florida Atlantic on February 21, 2002.
Down by five at halftime and trailing 36-27 one minute into the second half, Stetson reeled off an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the second half at 43-40 with 12:02 remaining. The run was punctuated by a Brown three-pointer.
The lead swung back and forth for the next 10 minutes thereafter; after a Crystal Grable bucket with 3:15 left put the Dolphins ahead 57-55, Brown found Frieson under the basket for the game-tying layup with 2:57 remaining. Following a defensive stop, sophomore guard Kerri Simpson (Charleston, Tenn.) put the Hatters ahead to stay with a "basket-and-one" three-point play at the 2:11 mark. A steal and fast break layup from freshman guard Dashauna Truss (Jacksonville, Fla.) with 1:00 on the scoreboard gave Stetson a 64-58 advantage.
Jacksonville would fight back within two points with 20 seconds left, but junior forward Jessica Conner (Cocoa, Fla.) sealed the victory with a made free throw and then an alert offensive rebound off her second shot miss, running the clock and forcing the Dolphins to foul her again; she sank both shots this time to restore the two-possession lead for good.
Conner nearly recorded a double-double of her own with nine points, 10 rebounds, a block and a steal to supplement the efforts of Brown and Frieson. Stetson controlled the rebounding battle (53-43), out-pacing a JU team that entered the game with a league-leading +1.1 rebounding margin. Junior center Natasha Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) pulled down eight rebounds to go with six points.
Lynsey Paschal led Jacksonville with 11 points while Grable added 10 points and seven rebounds. Jessica George (five points, five rebounds, five assists) and Courtney Jackson (eight points, six rebounds, four assists, one block, one steal) filled up the stat sheet for the Dolphins as well.
Stetson returns to the court Saturday at 3 p.m., hosting North Florida at the Edmunds Center in A-Sun action. Bill Topping and Dee Romine's Hatter Vision webcast along with Live Stats are available as always at www.GoHatters.com, the official online home of Stetson Athletics.
HATTER NOTES: senior forward Ashli Jackson (Opelika, Ala.) hit two threes to move past Terri Cain '88 into ninth place all-time at Stetson; she now has 68 career three-point field goals and needs two more to tie Stetson University Athletic Hall of Famer Cher Dyson '01 for eighth place...Brown has recorded five assists or more seven times in Stetson's last eight games and has scored in double figures six times in her last seven outings.
