Feb. 10, 2007

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Sophomore guard Regina Omoite scored a career-high 19 points and junior forward Ashley Williams tallied her 12th career double-double to lead the JU women's basketball team to a clean sweep in the SunTrust River City Rumble with a 67-52 win over North Florida, Saturday afternoon at UNF Arena.

JU (14-8, 8-5) set a new program record for wins (surpassing the previous mark of 13 in 2000-1) by dominating the boards (46-35) and converting 24 points on 17 Osprey turnovers. UNF (5-16, 3-8) could not overcome a 20 percent shooting effort (5-25) in the first half.

"I'm proud of the hard work the team has put into setting this new record but it does not end here," said JU head coach Jill Dunn. "We are starting to turn a corner right now and we need to continue to show improvement every game if we are going to be successful in the postseason."

Leading 31-16 at the half, JU increased the lead to a game-high 24 points (46-22) with Omoite hit a three pointer at the 15:19 mark. The Dolphins would go without a basket for the next six minutes as UNF cut the deficit to 46-32 with a 10-0 run.

After a three pointer by sophomore guard DaVina Hamilton made it 49-32, UNF used an 8-0 run to make it 49-40 after a jumper by Jennifer Bowen with 6:50 left. JU answered with a 5-0 run to make it 54-40 after a three by Omoite with 5:07 left. The Ospreys would never cut the deficit under 10 for the remainder of the contest.

Omoite notched her career high for points after connecting on a career-best 5-of-11 from beyond the arc. She also finished with five assists, three steals and no turnovers in 36 minutes. Williams added 17 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks while sophomore guard Virginia Gregoire rounded out the double-figure scorers with 16. Hamilton added nine points and a career-high eight assists.

Shandrea Moore led the Ospreys with 16 points and eight rebounds while Bowen added 12 points to round out the UNF players in double figures.

In the first half, JU jumped out quickly as the Dolphins took an early 6-0 lead less than a minute into the contest when Gregoire nailed consecutive three pointers. UNF started to heat up as the Ospreys cut the margin to 12-11 after a jumper by Willonda Windham at the 15:08 mark.

The Dolphins took over from there as they used a 12-0 run to take a 24-11 advantage after a jumper by Williams with 9:50 left. JU would push to lead to as many as 16 points (31-15) after a free throw by freshman forward Deserae Johnson with 1:27 left but Sabrina Schmitt hit a single free throw to make it 31-16 at the break.

The Dolphins will next host East Tennessee State at Swisher Gymnasium on Thursday at 7 p.m.