JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University women's basketball team is back on track and running through Atlantic Sun competition full steam ahead. After a shaky start in conference play, the Dolphins have bounced back with a three-game winning streak which includes back-to-back season sweeps over North Florida and Kennesaw State. The Dolphins met the Owls for the second time in 12 days on Thursday night and defeated the visiting KSU team by a score of 73-70.

Kayla Gordon charged the Dolphins' offense with her fourth double-double of the season on 18 points and 10 rebounds. Three others finished in double-digits with Sherranda Reddick and Briona Brown each adding 17 points and Brandi Buie adding 14.

"It was a gritty win," said Head Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin. "In the first half we went away from what we are and that's a defensive team. One of our commandments is our defense will be the engine to our offense and I felt like we went away from that."

"Playing well on the defensive end is how we got here and that's how we are going to continue to progress. I was proud of those efforts in the second half. We did what was necessary for us to come out with the win. We've played everyone once and everybody knows what each opponent is going to do. The toughest team is going to win and we showed that we were the toughest team tonight."

After KSU won the opening tip, the Dolphins immediately made their presence felt with a smothering defensive effort to force a shot clock violation.

Taking advantage of the turnover, Brown hit a midrange jumper to score the first points of the game and the teams went on to trade baskets resulting in two stalemates at 10-10 and 11-11 before the Owls took a six-point advantage, 23-17, with 9:29 on the clock. JU then used 6-2 run to tie the contest for the third time at 25-all (6:19) but couldn't gain separation as it entered halftime trailing 40-36.

The Dolphins started the second half in the same manner in which they started the game- forcing an Owl turnover. A steal by Brown led to a Gordon layup to pull JU within two with 19:34 remaining and it took a little over 10 minutes of action before momentum swung in the Dolphins' favor. Up until the 8:23 mark, the Owls were able to maintain their advantage. At one-point, KSU lead by eight, its largest margin of the game until the Dolphins battled to tie the contest twice more at 57-57 and 58-58.

With the visitors clinging to a one-point edge, Buie drained a three pointer to give JU a 62-60 lead and spark a 9-2 run.

Continuing in on the back-and-forth nature of the game, Kristina Wells shortened JU's edge with four unanswered points and suddenly the score captured the Owls down by two, 68-66, with 2:40 on the clock.

The Dolphins responded with a 5-0 run to bolster their lead back up to 73-66 and following Reddick's trip to the charity stripe, Karly Frye knocked down a contested trey to chop JU's lead down to four, 73-69.

There was 4.9 seconds remaining when Wells hit one of two free throws. A hustle play on the latter miss allowed the Owls to come up with the offensive rebound and the team stopped the clock with its final timeout.

Coming out of the break, KSU handed the ball to Kelly Dulkoski to tie the ballgame. She was 4-for-6 from beyond the arc and with the clock winding down, her last second attempt went long.

Jacksonville continues its homestand on Saturday, Feb. 14 against USC Upstate. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Fin Facts

• Buie dished a career-high five assists
• Reddick went 11-for-14 from the free throw line
• In the second straight game, Kimberly Dawkins tied her career-high with three blocks
• Thursday's contest marked JU's third win of the season when trailing at halftime and boosted its record to 6-4 at home