The University of North Florida women’s basketball team fell to the Jacksonville Dolphins 60-77 on Thursday night at UNF Arena.
The Dolphins capitalized on a pair of runs to pull away from the Ospreys, ultimately leading to North Florida’s sixth loss in seven games.
The Ospreys opened the first quarter with two straight three-pointers, giving UNF an 8-3 advantage not even two minutes into the game. However, that was all the scoring for the Ospreys until eight minutes were left in the second quarter.
“When we get out to any kind of lead at the start of a game, we just don’t know how to keep it; we don’t know how to stretch it,” head coach Erika Lambert said. “We haven’t learned that as a team.”
UNF went nearly ten minutes without a single point, allowing JU to go on a 15-0 run, giving the Dolphins the 18-8 lead.
UNF’s scoring drought occurred due to frequent Osprey miscues in the first quarter. North Florida squandered five turnovers, committed seven team fouls and completed only 3-17 shots from the field in the first frame.
“We had a ton of offensive execution errors,” Lambert said. “I think it started with that scoreless stretch toward the beginning of the game.”
A Kaila Rougier three-pointer with eight minutes left erased Jacksonville’s 15-0 run and ended North Florida’s scoring drought. Rougier scored the first five points for the Ospreys in the second quarter and became the first UNF player to hit double-digit points.
Trailing 29-18 with four minutes left until halftime, the Ospreys went on an 11-6 run courtesy of Emma Broermann, who scored the last five points in the quarter for North Florida. UNF cut JU’s lead to six, leading to a manageable 35-29 halftime score.
JU used another run to extend their lead from 37-33 to 48-33 in the third quarter. Trailing by 15, the Ospreys could not cut into JU’s lead in the third quarter, which led to a 59-43 deficit at the end of the third quarter.
The Dolphins opened up the fourth and final frame on an 11-6 run, which all but sealed the game. UNF lost 77-60 despite 17 points from Rougier and a double-double for Broermann.
“I’ll watch the game tonight, and we’ll watch it as a team tomorrow and get those things shored up for Saturday,” said Lambert.
North Florida will travel across town to face the same Dolphins team at Swisher Gymnasium on Feb. 17 at 2 p.m.
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