The University of North Florida women’s basketball team has come a long way this season and coach Erika Lambert said one of the areas that will need improvement next season is learning to play with a lead.
That’s unfamiliar territory to a team with no seniors and eight freshmen and sophomores and why the Ospreys’ 76-71 overtime loss to West Georgia on March 3 at Jacksonville University’s Swisher Gym in the first round of the ASUN Women’s Tournament will be a teachable moment when she gathers her team back together next summer.
UNF (9-21), the tournament’s 10th seed, led the seventh-seeded Wolves (18-12) 50-40 entering the fourth quarter. West Georgia went on an 8-0 run to start the final period, but the Ospreys held on and sophomore Alexa Washington’s reverse layup with 42 seconds left gave UNF a 61-59 lead.
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West Georgia’s Destiny Jones and UNF’s Georgi Buzzetti traded one of two from the foul line and Jasmine Jones then made two free throws with 14.6 seconds left to tie the game 62-62. UNF got the ball inside on the final possession of regulation to Buzzetti, but she bobbled the entry pass on the left side in the lane and Jones recovered the ball at the buzzer to force overtime.
The Wolves then scored the first six points of the extra period, four by Grace O’Gara, and UNF never recovered. West Georgia advanced to a quarterfinal game on March 5 against second-seeded Jacksonville (21-8) at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
![North Florida Ospreys guard Elle Blatchford (23) and guard Alonya Waldon (4) can’t stop a pass from West Georgia Wolves forward Destiny Jones (12) during the fourth quarter of the ASUN Women’s Basketball Championship first round matchup at Swisher Gymnasium, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. The West Georgia Wolves held off the North Florida Ospreys 76-71 in overtime. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/SLeVW8BBniRII3QvJwSUyA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzODtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-florida-times-union/dfba9ef0d94cd9bec5b4941fd6e406f9)
North Florida Ospreys guard Elle Blatchford (23) and guard Alonya Waldon (4) can’t stop a pass from West Georgia Wolves forward Destiny Jones (12) during the fourth quarter of the ASUN Women’s Basketball Championship first round matchup at Swisher Gymnasium, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. The West Georgia Wolves held off the North Florida Ospreys 76-71 in overtime. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
Ospreys had numerous opportunities
UNF could have led by much more than 10 points entering the final 10 minutes. They worked hard for good shots but eventually missed 25 layups and short jumpers around the basket and shot 16 of 25 from the foul line.
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“I thought our players came in with as much fight as anyone will in this tournament,” Lambert said. “I’m proud of that. But we shot below 50 percent in the paint. We missed nine free-throw attempts. We gave up five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, which I thought was really the reason why it got pushed to overtime.”
When asked if her team will develop more of a killer instinct next year, if she can keep most of her returning players in the Transfer Portal Era, she replied, “I sure hope so.
“This is all part of the process,” she said. “I think, given these kids in the same situation next year, it would look really different. We really haven’t played with a 10-point fourth-quarter lead very much, so we’ve got to do a better job.”
![West Georgia Wolves guard Grace O'Gara (5) trips over North Florida Ospreys guard Alexa Washington (22) during the second quarter of the ASUN Women’s Basketball Championship first round matchup at Swisher Gymnasium, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ObPZo_bzrM98YhVCwdYGpQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzODtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the-florida-times-union/4b3cbc448728d2fd14644d6f74cfa5cb)
West Georgia Wolves guard Grace O’Gara (5) trips over North Florida Ospreys guard Alexa Washington (22) during the second quarter of the ASUN Women’s Basketball Championship first round matchup at Swisher Gymnasium, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
Washington, who had 16 points and made 3 of 3 3-point shots in the second half, believes most of the team will be back to continue Lambert’s rebuilding job.
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“We love each other and after each game we come back wanting it more,” Washington said. “We want to win. We just have to figure out how to put those pieces together. I know it’s going to come with time.”
UNF had to play with Dezuray McGill
The Ospreys did not have freshman forward Dezuray McGill (10.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game) because of her suspension stemming from a fight last week at the end of UNF’s game against JU. But various players picked up the slack.
Buzzetti scored a season-high 19 points to lead UNF and added seven rebounds, junior Karyzma Pierre had her first career double-double with the Ospreys, contributing 11 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman guard Soraya Ogaldez, who had averaged nine minutes per game, had 10 points, three rebounds and three assists in a season-high 28 minutes.
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“She’s just scratching the surface,” Lambert said of the 5-foot-8 Washington State native. “She comes out, messes around and throws up 10 points. We can really develop her. The sky is the limit for Soraya.”
West Georgia has experience in overtime games
West Georgia coach Joanna Reitz, whose team beat UNF by 15 points at home and seven points at UNF during the regular season, was glad there won’t be a fourth meeting this season.
“Without McGill, they did a nice job,” Reitz said. “They’ve got good players. They’re bigger than us and we had some wacky matchups. But we stayed with it. We never gave up.”
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And the game going to overtime was familiar territory for the Wolves: they’ve played three overtime games in their last five, and went an ASUN-record four overtimes with North Alabama on Feb. 27, their final regular-season game, before falling 118-107.
West Georgia has played 105 minutes of basketball in their last two games.
“Just a great, gutty conference tournament win,” she said.
Austin Peay, Florida Gulf Coast advance
Austin Peay 63, Lipscomb 56
The eighth-seeded Governors held off a late rally by the ninth-seeded Bisons to advance against top-seeded Eastern Kentucky on March 6 at 12 p.m. at the VyStar Arena.
Austin Peay’s Jade Rucker (left) tries to prevent LIpscomb’s McKayla Miller from getting an inbounds pass during their ASUN Tournament game on March 3, 2026 at UNF Arena.
Austin Peay (17-12) led 30-14 early in the third quarter but Lipscomb (10-20) cut the margin to four points twice on the 3-point shooting of Molly Heard, McKayla Miller and Taylor Bowman. Miller’s 3 with 2:59 left cut the lead to 55-51, but the Governors made 8 of 14 foul shots down the stretch to stay ahead.
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Jim’Miyah Braxton led APU with 18 points, 10 of free throws, in 14 attempts. Anovia Sheals had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Heard led Lipscomb with 23 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.
Florida Gulf Coast 94, Bellarmine 28
The defending conference champions flexed their muscles by routing the Knights at UNF Arena. Six players scored in double figures, led by Eve Alexander with 20 points and nine rebounds off the bench, and four players had double-doubles, led by Anna Mortag with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The fifth-seeded Eagles (16-14) will play fourth-seeded Stetson at 2:30 p.m. on March 5 at the VyStar Arena. Bellarmine (2-30) became the first ASUN team since Coastal Carolina in 1996 to go winless in the regular season with an 0-18 record.
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FGCU‘s streak of seven regular-season ASUN titles in a row ended this year, but the Eagles are still alive for a chance to extend their streak of conference tournament victories to eight in a row.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: West Georgia rallies from 10-point deficit to beat UNF in overtime
