JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Claire Ioannidis' three-pointer with 20 seconds left in overtime lifted the University of North Florida to a 74-72 win over the Towson University women's basketball team in the final game of the UNF Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday afternoon. Senior guard Dominique Johnson finished with 14 points for the Tigers (2-4) including the 1,000th point of her career.

THE BASICS
North Florida 74, Towson 72 (OT)
UNF Arena, Jacksonville, Fla.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Ospreys jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead with 7:22 to go in the first quarter. A three-pointer from Sierra Shepherd extended the North Florida (2-5) advantage to 13-3 with 4:27 showing on the clock. Johnson's milestone bucket, that pushed her over 1,000 career points, came at 3:47 as her jumper made it 13-5. That basket was part of a 7-2 run that allowed Towson to cut its deficit to five, 15-10 with 1:48 to go in the quarter. North Florida scored the final five points of the quarter and took a 21-10 lead after 10 minutes of play.
• North Florida scored six of the first eight points in the second quarter and pushed its lead to 13, 27-14 with 4:54 to go in the quarter. That was the Ospreys' largest lead of the game. Towson responded with a 12-6 run which made it 33-26 at the half in favor of North Florida. Junior forward Brianna Bush had four points during that scoring stretch for the Tigers.
• Towson shot just 29.4% from the floor in the first half but made 6-of-10 from the foul line. North Florida shot 32.4% from the floor but was aided by seven three-pointers. The Tigers held a 27-22 edge in the rebounding battle.
• The Tigers opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run and cut the North Florida lead to one, 33-32. The Ospreys called timeout to 9:04 left in the stanza. North Florida used a three-pointer to push the lead back to four before Towson responded with a 7-0 run and took a 39-36 advantage with 6:36 left in the quarter. North Florida tied the game at 39-39 with six minutes showing on the clock. Towson used an 8-0 run to take a 47-39 lead with 3:30 left in the quarter. Johnson tallied six of the Tigers' eight during that stretch. A 9-2 run by North Florida cut the Towson lead to 49-48 at the end of the third quarter. Shepherd had a pair of threes for the Ospreys during that run.
• Towson opened the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run and held a 59-48 lead with 7:41 to play. Freshman guard Sianni Martin had half of the Tigers' points during that run. North Florida scored the next eight points of the game and cut the Towson lead to three, 59-56 with 2:34 left on the clock. Back-to-back baskets from Johnson and junior guard Raven Bankston pushed the Towson lead back to seven, 63-56 with 1:56 left in the quarter. North Florida hit three three-pointers in the final 1:40 of the game, including one from Hadley Kiefer with one second to play that tied the game at 65-65 and sent the two teams to overtime.
• North Florida opened the extra stanza by scoring six of the first eight points and took a 71-67 lead with 1:47 to play. Ioannidis had five of the six points for the Ospreys. Five straight points from Bankston gave Towson a 72-71 lead with 43 seconds left in the game. However, Ioannidis connected on what proved to be the game-winning three-pointer with 20 seconds to play. Towson had a chance with six seconds to play by Bankston's lay-up didn't fall. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Tigers played overtime for the first time since February 22 of last year when they fell to UNC Wilmington.
• Johnson became the 16^th player in program history and first since Tanisha McTiller (2012-13) to join the 1,000 point club.
• All four teams in the North Florida Tournament finished with 1-1 records. The tiebreaker was based on point differential and based on that the Tigers finished second. Martin and sophomore center Daijha Thomas were named to the all-tournament team.
• Bankston led the Tigers with 21 points, nine rebounds and four steals on Saturday.
• Martin added 15 points and three steals while Johnson had 14 points and seven rebounds.
• Thomas and freshman forward Brittany Tarr each pulled down eight rebounds in the game.
• Ioannidis led North Florida with 16 points and five assists.
• North Florida hit 18 three-pointers in the game.

The Tigers are back in action when they travel to Cornell for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday, Dec. 2.