Turnovers Prove Costly for Trojans in Loss

Saturday, December 18

Jacksonville, FL

3:00 p.m. (EST)

Troy University

University of North Florida

Photo by: Troy University

Turnovers Prove Costly for Trojans in Loss

12/18/2010 6:16:02 PM | Basketball (W)

Troy commits 26 turnovers in the game, 15 of those in the second half

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Troy University women's basketball team couldn't overcome their second-highest total number of turnovers on Saturday afternoon, falling to the University of North Florida 68-52 at the UNF Holiday Classic in non-conference action.

Brittany Kirkland led North Florida (2-7) with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the floor, and 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc on the day. Taylor Smith added 12 points off the bench for the Ospreys.

Junior DeAngela Sword (Montgomery, Ala./Pensacola JC) led Troy with 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the floor, while Tenia Manuel (Leesburg, Fla./Leesburg HS) recorded her second career double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Troy (2-8), who never led in the game, found themselves down by as many as six in the first half; however, they were able to stay within reach with timely baskets and defensive stands. But it was the 15 turnovers, and the timing of those turnovers, in the second half that did the Trojans in.

The Trojans trailed 25-20 with 6:24 to play in the first half, but held North Florida to just two field goals over that time to cut into the halftime lead. A jumper by freshman Dominique Ross (Covington, Tenn./Covington HS) trimmed the lead to 25-22, before Smith hit a lay-up to push it back to five at 27-22 with 5:20 to play in the opening half.

Sword was able to trim it back to three at 27-24 with 2:34 to play, before she hit a running jumper with just 66 seconds to play to trim the lead to one at 27-26. However, North Florida's Jade Givens pushed the lead back to three at 29-26 with 56 seconds remaining for the final margin at the break.

The Trojans looked poised to make a run when the second half started after a jumper by Sophie Kleeman (Newcastle, Australia/Newcastle HS) got the Trojans to 31-28, but from there North Florida made their run.

The Ospreys used four turnovers by Troy to push the lead to 13 following a 12-2 run; giving the home team a 43-30 advantage. As things began to look like they were slipping away from the Trojans, they made a run of their own to close within seven at 43-36 on a pair of baskets from Manuel and another from Sword.

They continued to fight and closed the gap to five again with 10:42 to play in the contest, it was untimely turnovers again that pushed the lead to double digits for North Florida. After a pair of offensive fouls were called on North Florida, the Trojans had a chance to trim the lead to three but were whistled for their own offensive foul and the Ospreys capitalized for a 51-43 lead.

North Florida added another basket to push the lead to 53-43 before the Trojans closed to within nine – the closest they could get over the final seven minutes of the game.

After closing to within 54-45 with 6:28 to play, the Trojans fell victim to five consecutive turnovers and the lead went back to 10 at 59-49 with 2:48 to play in the contest. It stayed there until North Florida milked the shot clock down on consecutive possessions to put the game away.

North Florida shot 48.1 (25-for-52) percent from the floor and 85.7 (12-for-14) from the free throw line. The Trojans gave up a season-high 40 (6-for-15) percent shooting performance from beyond the arc to North Florida on the day.

Meanwhile, the Trojans shot 35.2 (19-of-54) percent from the floor and 23.1 (3-of-13) percent from beyond the arc. They also shot 68.8 (11-of-16) percent from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle, 42-26, over North Florida.

Troy returns to action Sunday afternoon at 1 pm (EST) against the Kangaroos of UMKC in their final game of the UNF Holiday Classic. The game can be heard on WTBF-94.7 FM beginning at the tip on Sunday from the UNF Arena in Jacksonville.

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