Coral Gables, Fla. - A solid effort by the Dolphins (1-1) ended in a defeat as the Miami Hurricanes (1-0) pulled away in the third to secure a win in Watsco Center Thursday morning.
Very impressive performances by the JU roster included junior Edyn Battle who led the Dolphins with 16 points, shooting 7-15 from the field while adding five rebounds. Battle displayed some very acrobatic finishes showing how impactful she can be attacking the rim with both hands in set offenses and in transition. Battle set a new JU career high in both points and rebounds.
Freshman Saniyah Craig played a solid game finishing with 11 points going 63% from the field.
Miami came out hot opening the scoring early. However, Craig was un-phased, as she fearlessly answered the Hurricane offense scoring two layups in a row to put JU on the board and keep the Dolphins in the game early. Craig was assisted off a baseline drive by MaKayla Edwards to finish a beautiful play to make the score 4-6 with 7:00 left to go in the first. The momentum continued for the Dolphins as Edwards picked up a loose ball mid-court to score all alone, tying the game 6-6 with 5:30 left. After a Miami score, Craig rallied back again with a bucket continuing her offensive run going 3-3 from the field and tightening the score to an 8-9 Miami lead.
Some miscommunication led the Hurricanes to go on a quick 6-0 run. Feeling confident, Head Coach Katie Meier switched to a zone defense that was quickly terrorized by guard Isamery Telleria as she sunk a heavily contested three-pointer to force Hurricanes to make defensive adjustments. A second 6-0 run by the Canes was broken by center Jada Jones assisted by Sana'a Garrett to kill Miami's momentum and send the game into the second period. Dolphins finished the first quarter shooting an impressive 50% from the field.
The green and white opened the second very patient running full sets to get the best shots possible. As the shot clock ticked down with 9:00 left to go in the quarter, Battle created, driving down a tight lane to draw a foul and split a pair at the line to start the scoring for the Dolphins. After the play, the score stayed at 14-17 for the next two minutes as JU did a stellar job controlling the defensive boards limiting Miami to one-and-done possessions. The Dolphins finished the half with 17 defensive rebounds leaving Miami with only nine second chance points. JU also managed to force 6 turnovers and gained five points out of it. An exchange in buckets as the quarter progressed left JU with an 11-point deficit. Miami had gone on a combination of small runs that were eventually broken by Edwards and Bre'Yanna Frazier at the halfway line.
After a very entertaining first half, Hurricanes began to pull away in the third. Despite the score continuing to fluctuate in favor of Miami, notable players in the fourth for Jacksonville were Asiana Britt who came off the bench, making an immediate impact, scoring 6 quick points. Britt went 100% from the three late in the fourth and Battle who went 4-4 from the field in the final quarter.
COACH'S COMMENTS
"Super proud of how we competed," said Head Coach Special Jennings. "We did some really great things, and we will work on the things that were not so good. As long as the ladies show up, play hard, and execute, we have a chance to be pretty good."
UP NEXT
Dolphins will have a few days to recoup, get back to the drawing board, and have a strong showing for their second home game of the regular season against Georgia Southern Thursday, November 16. The game is set to tip-off at 6:30 p.m.
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