Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In a back and forth battle the Alabama State University women's basketball team rallied for a 58-54 victory over the University of North Florida Wednesday night at UNF Arena.

For the Lady Hornets (2-4), Tanika Jackson tallied a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds and Tandria Milton added 12 points.

Leading the Ospreys (1-5) was Brittany Kirkland with 13 points and six assists. Juliemay Syquio chipped in 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Arlande Cherizol tallied a team high eight rebounds.

The Ospreys opened up the scoring with baskets on their first three possessions of the game to take an early 7-0 lead with 17:49 on the clock. Both teams went scoreless over the next three and a half minutes, but Alabama State recovered first, scoring 10 unanswered points to take the 10-7 advantage at the 9:33 mark.

Dori Lansbach broke the UNF drought with a jumper at 9:10, to close the gap to 10-9, before the Lady Hornets went on a run to take a six point (15-9) lead with 6:25 remaining. UNF responded with a pair of three pointers to tie the game at 15 with 4:56 left in the half. The two teams traded baskets to close out a first half that included six lead changes and four ties. UNF and ASU went into the break knotted at 27.

Coming out of the half, Alabama State broke the tie with a layup followed by a free throw from Jackson, but UNF forced another tie on its next possession with a three pointer from Syquio. The Lady Hornets answered with back-to-back baskets by Jackson to take a 35-30 lead with 16:02 left on the clock.

ASU maintained its advantage and built its largest lead of the half, 40-34, at 13:20. UNF battled back behind 11 unanswered points to regain the lead, 45-40, midway through the final period.

The Lady Hornets rallied to seize a one-point lead, 49-48, with 6:51 left to play following a jumper from Milton. With just under two minutes remaining, UNF and ASU posted the game's seventh tie before the Hornets scored on their next possession to take grab a two-point lead (55-53) with 1:13 to go.

A foul with 17 ticks left on the clock sent Syquio to the line, where she made the front end of a pair of free throws. The Ospreys were then forced to foul, and the Lady Hornets made 3-of-4 from the line in the final seconds to seal the win.

UNF held a slight 41-39 rebound on the boards, but the Lady Hornets took control inside offensively, scoring 22 points in the paint to just 14 by the Ospreys. ASU's bench also accounted for 37 of its points to just 13 points for the UNF reserves.

Alabama State will be back in action Friday when they host in-state foe the University of Alabama at 6 p.m. in the ASU Acadome.