An afternoon of loose shooting and scoring runs given up proved to be the downfall of the Lipscomb Lady Bisons against the UNF Ospreys with a deceptively close final score of 68-60.
It was looking like this game may be a low-scoring, close game in the beginning stages, as the first quarter ended with the Ospreys ahead 15-12.
The first quarter was a defensive battle, with each team forcing four turnovers. The Ospreys also had three blocked shots.
Carleigh Short scored the first basket of the second quarter to pull the Lady Bisons to within one at 15-14.
It would be several minutes before the Lady Bisons made another basket. The Ospreys went on a 13-0 run that lasted until 2:29 in the quarter and gave the team a 30-18 lead.
Poor shooting hurt Lipscomb the most in this quarter. The Lady Bisons shot 5-14 in and were 0-4 from beyond the three-point line.
At halftime, UNF’s Jazz Bond had eight points, six rebounds, and two blocks
Lipscomb struggled to keep up with the faster, more physical playstyle of UNF. This gave the Ospreys several fastbreaks and points scored from the paint and played a part in the Ospreys out-rebounding the Lady Bisons 22 to 14 in the half.
The Lady Bisons scored the game’s next four baskets to shrink UNF’s lead to 30-24 at the beginning of the third quarter. The teams would go scoreless over the next two minutes due to good defense and missed shots.
The teams went basket-for-basket with each other until the Ospreys set off on another run with just under four minutes to play in the third quarter. This time, it was an 8-0 run that put UNF ahead 49-33 with a minute and a half remaining.
The Lady Bisons again finished the quarter on a run of their own, with Taylor Clark scoring a layup and Taylor Hammack hitting a three to end the quarter with the score 49-38.
Lipscomb didn’t shoot well again in the fourth quarter, going 7-20 from the field and 3-10 from beyond the three-point line. They weren’t able to slow down the Ospreys and allowed UNF to widen its lead to 58-40 with eight minutes to go in the game.
The Lady Bisons were able to whittle the lead down to eight points, but that was with eight seconds to go. The game ended after UNF made a final free throw.
With Short and Clark contained by the Ospreys’ defense, the only Lady Bisons in double figures were Casey Collier and Jalyn Holcomb.
Bond ended the game with 12 points, 13 rebounds, and five blocks. Tiffany Tolbert, Adrienne Jackson, and Janesha Green also had double figures for the Ospreys. The Ospreys go to 11-8 (4-2 ASUN).
Lipscomb falls to 5-15 (2-5 ASUN) and will look to get back in the win column on Monday at home against Jacksonville.
Gallery by Riley Hoag.