JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Kristine Herman led the Eagles with a career-high 12 points as the FGCU women's basketball team dropped their second consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference game after falling 63-47 to the North Florida Ospreys Monday night at UNF Arena.
The Eagles (5-7, 0-2 A-Sun) finished 17-of-53 (32.1 percent) from the floor and 8-of-35 (22.9 percent) from behind the three-point line. The Lady Ospreys shot 51 percent (25-of-49) from the field and 57.1 percent (4-of-7) from behind the arc.
UNF (7-7, 2-0 A-Sun) jumped on the Eagles early, as they started the game on 7-0 run over the first and kept the Eagles scoreless until Bri Zabel (Northfield, Minn.) scored on a breakaway layup at the 12:47 mark. UNF would the knock in two field goals to push their lead to 11-2. FGCU responded by going on a 11-2 run, which included a jumper by Kristine Herman (San Ramon, Calif.), a three-pointer by Amanda Pierce (Altoona, Pa.) and back-to-back three's by Ashley Haegele (Imperial, Mo.), to tie the ballgame at 13-13 with 8:21 left in the half.
North Florida responded with a run of their own and outscored the Eagles 17-5 over the final 7:08 of the half and took a 30-18 lead going into the locker room at halftime.
The Lady Ospreys shot 13-of-25 (52 percent) in the first half and held the Eagles to only 26.9 percent (7-of-26) from the field and 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from behind the three point line. UNF also forced FGCU into 12 first half turnovers.
The second half was played fairly even and the Eagles were only able to cut the UNF lead down to 10 points and UNF outscored FGCU 33-29 and won by the final score.
Kristine Herman shot 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from the field and 2-of-7 (28.6 percent) from three-point range. Herman also added one rebound, one assist and one steal. Amanda Pierce scored 10 points and joined Herman as the only Eagles to score double-digits. Pierce shot 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from the field and added three boards and two steals.
UNF was led by Shennette Sheffield's double-double. Sheffield scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
The Eagles return to Alico Arena on Saturday, Jan. 12 to take on Stetson at 7 p.m.
