Jacksonville, Fla. - Junior guard Tierra Brown (Orlando, Fla.) scored 16 points and junior center Natasha Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, but host North Florida (8-16, 5-10 Atlantic Sun) slipped past the Stetson women's basketball team (5-20, 5-11 A-Sun) 42-33 Thursday evening at UNF Arena.
It was a low-scoring game in which the Hatters had trouble with their consistency at the offensive end. Stetson shot 17.6% (9-for-51) from the field and 12.0% (3-of-25) from beyond the arc. Brown was a bright spot, however, knocking down five of six free throws en route to her 16 points. Stetson won the turnover battle by committing just 17 miscues and forcing a season-high 30 turnovers by the opposition.
Jadhken Kerr led UNF with nine points; Stetson held its opponent without a double-figure scorer for the first time since February 28, 2008, ironically also North Florida. Juliemay Syquio had 12 rebounds while Arlande Cherizol scored eight points and grabbed 10 boards.
"We got great looks tonight, we just didn't make them", said Stetson head coach Lynn Bria. "I thought our effort was good, especially defensively. However, we have to get to the offensive glass if we are not shooting well; I'm disappointed in our team rebounding. We need somebody to hit the boards besides Graboski."
After falling behind by as many as 16 points in the second half Stetson never gave up and fought back to within seven points on four separate occasions. Twelve minutes into the first half the Hatters ran into an 0-for-9 cold spell from the field and the Ospreys went on a seven-point spurt to take a 21-12 lead. Brown stopped the run with a nice fake and jumper from the paint at 2:27. Early on Brown was an offensive army-of-one, scoring nine points in the first half. After adding a pair of free throws by Rachelle Rasley, the Ospreys took a 23-14 lead into the locker room.
Stetson will return to Jacksonville to take on JU Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Arena. Stetson fans can make the short drive up I-95 to see the Hatters live, or check out the game on A-Sun.TV.
