Even with three Ospreys in double-digit scoring, Jacksonville University was still able to come away with the win during the first installment of the River City Rumble.

UNF (7-9, ASUN 0-1) lost its first conference game of the season to JU (12-4, ASUN 1-0), 58-68.

Head Coach Darrick Gibbs spoke on opening conference play for the year.

“I’m really excited, we’ve been looking forward to it, looking forward to the challenges they bring,” said Gibbs. “[The ASUN is] a great league from top to bottom.”

Claire Ioannidis lead the Ospreys in scoring with 16 points, and four of her buckets were three pointers.

Tesh Hanson added 15 points in addition to four rebounds and a steal.

Sierra Shepherd had 13 points, two steals and a game high five assist.

UNF was outscored by 20 in the paint and by 10 on second chance points. At halftime, the score was 33-17 in JU’s advantage.

Out of the break, North Florida was able to convert more and played a lot better.

“We were resilient and made some adjustments at halftime. More so in our energy defensively and dictating a bit more,” Gibbs said.

Even though UNF out-scored JU by six during the second half, a low-scoring first half was too much for the Ospreys to overcome.

The Dolphins won the game 68-58 to start conference play.

Gibbs spoke on how this loss affected their thoughts on winning the ASUN championship.

“It’s a long season we have a lot more games to play and we’ll have a lot of opportunities to get wins. We’ll focus on the next one and move from there,” Gibbs said.

Next, North Florida will go on the road to NJIT Jan. 14 as they continue conference play.

—

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact [email protected].