KENNESAW, Ga. - The Jacksonville women's basketball team (5-12, 1-3) fell to the Kennesaw State Owls (7-9, 3-0) in a nail-biter on Saturday at the KSU Convocation Center. 

The Dolphins entered the game as the superior team, leading Kennesaw State in points per game, a higher field goal percentage, higher free-throw percentage, and steals. However, the Owls managed to slip away from the Dolphin's grasp late in the fourth quarter. 

Jacksonville's leading scorer, Edyn Battle, notched her 15th game this season scoring in double figures, going a solid 8-for-16 from the field, and Freshman Saniyah Craig nearly achieved her fourth career double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds. 

The first quarter featured back-and-forth action. Four of the five JU starters got on the scoreboard early within the first five minutes of the game. However, KSU lingered around as the Dolphins found easy buckets, marking a 14-12 KSU lead with 4 minutes remaining in the quarter. As the gameplay progressed, the Owls managed to pull away going into the second, 23-14. 

KSU continued to grow their first-quarter lead at the start of the second, maintaining a 12-3 run with 6:53 remaining in the quarter, leaving the score at 28-18. By the end of the period, both universities put up a close-to-even quarter count, with 13 for KSU and 12 for JU. Thanks to big shots by Isamery Telleria and Jalisa Dunlap, the halftime score had JU down only 10 after being behind as much as 15. The 10-point climb was the perfect striking distance for the green and white as JU proceeded to own the third quarter, erupting for a team effort 10-0 run to get within four. The Dolphins managed to hold KSU to six scoreless possessions as they made their run. With 2:12 left in the third, JU regained their first lead of the night since early in the first quarter. Led by Battle with 12 third-quarter points and consecutive made threes to put the Dolphins up by as many as three. JU outscored KSU 20-9 for the period.  

Though the Owls quickly regained their lead, it was removed and tied late in the fourth two separate times by the 70-percent free-throw shooter Craig with 2:00 expiring on the clock. Coaches on both sides began to scream for timeouts as time trickled down to the wire. With 59 seconds on the clock, KSU eventually was fouled and stretched the tied game to a 59-57 KSU lead. The Dolphins still had an unused timeout, wittingly used by Head Coach Special Jennings to draw up a game-winning play with 00:07 seconds left. The outcome narrowly did not go in the Dolphin's favor and resulted in a win for KSU. 

COACH'S COMMENTS
"Proud of my team's efforts today!" said Coach Jennings. "We really showed that we can be resilient when things don't go our way. We made some costly mistakes down the stretch—missed box-outs and uncharacteristic fouls that cost us the game. We will learn from this and be better, but we did a ton of great things that I am proud of."

UP NEXT 

Are you ready for the River City Rumble? The Dolphins return to Jacksonville to face their inner-city rival, North Florida, on Saturday, January 20. The game is set for 2 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.

NOTEABLE NUMBERS 

• Saniyah Craig went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line 

• Edyn Battle scored 20 points, her 7th 20+ night 

• Dolphins scored 25 points on 21 KSU turnovers