The Jacksonville University women’s basketball team has started off the New Year with a heavy dose of Atlantic Sun Conference opponents. The ladies have played five in-conference games all within the month of January.  The journey started Jan. 3 when they faced the Campbell Camels in North Carolina.  The Camels shot an efficient 81.5 from the free throw line and took a 20-point lead against the Dolphins in the second half. JU showed a great fight though as they brought the game within 8 points but according to JU Head Coach Jill Dunn it was a little too late.

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole,” Dunn said.

The ladies had no problem with scoring as four players scored in double figures led by Senior Lynsey Paschal’s 15 points. The 77-65 loss by the Dolphins did not put a damper in Coach Dunn’s spirit.

“I’m pleased with how we reacted in the final 10 minutes of the game and hopefully we can build on it as we head to Nashville this weekend,” Dunn said.

The ladies took their coaches advice as they won one of two games while in Tennessee.

The Lady Dolphins fell to Lipscomb University during their first matchup in the Volunteer state 74-69. The Fins dominated in the paint by outscoring the Lady Bison’s 42-12, but that just wasn’t enough as Lipscomb went on one run too many towards the end of the game. The Dolphins were led by outstanding play off the bench by guard Crystal Bell who had 23 points. That effort was key but Coach Dunn was adamant on getting back to the way they used to play.

“We need to get back to the basics all around to snap this losing streak,” Dunn said.

The fins did just that as they docked a 10-point victory against conference opponent Belmont on Jan. 10. The win snapped a four game losing streak that had been haunting the lady dolphins.

“It was nice to get back in the win column,” Dunn said.

Junior Guard Ashanti Williams led the Dolphins in scoring with 18 points, to go along with 33 bench points by the Dolphins. The fins fell behind early in the game but swam their way back after going on an 11-3 run in the first half. Both teams battled each other the rest of the game but JU pulled away towards the end thanks to clutch-free throw shooting.

The Lady Fins made there way back home to play East Tennessee State University Jan. 15 in Veterans Memorial Arena. The Dolphins had trouble stopping ETSU player Tara Davis as she scored 28 points to help top the Dolphins 69-62. The Dolphins had an outstanding performance themselves from Senior Forward Taneskei Richardson who recorded a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. The ladies cut the ETSU lead down to five twice late in the game, but late free throws doomed the fins in the end. Coach Dunn remained optimistic.

“I thought we played extremely hard, but they are a good team and outlasted us in the end,” Dunn said. “We need to work on sustaining some of the positives we had today into our game on Monday.”

The fins took their coaches advice two days later on Jan. 17 and put together a 87-75 point victory over University of South Carolina Upstate. Senior GiGi Thomas led the lady fins with 17 points. She was one of four Dolphins who scored in double digits. JU shot the ball well all night.

“We played very well as a team last night,” said junior Guard Jessica George who hit a key three in the winding moments of the game.
The Spartans were up early in the game 25-17 but the Dolphins jumped back into the game with a 17-3 run. The game was close all night until JU pulled away in the end, as they remained hot in the second half.

The ladies, currently in 8th place in the conference, still have a valid shot at making the tournament with a large amount of there conference games still a head of them.

“We have played well, and have bounced back from a couple of losses,” said George. “The rest of the season looks bright for us.”

The Dolphins hit the road again this weekend in Georgia as JU (8-8), (3-4) will take on last place Kennesaw State University (3-12), (0-7) Saturday, Jan. 22 at 5 p.m. This will start a three game road trip in which the women’s team plans to make up lost ground in the competitive and jammed packed Atlantic Sun Conference.

It’s not a battle of the sexes when both sexes are battling on behalf of JU athletics. Both the men and women’s Dolphin basketball teams are 4-1 overall and undefeated at home. Of course, the women play at Swisher Gym and the men at Jacksonville Veteran’s Arena, but that is of no consequence to the stat sheets.

The JU men’s squad has defeated Savannah State, Florida Tech, Samford and Auburn, and with the exception of AU, all by at least 10-point margins. The team’s only loss was their season opener at Miami University in which they shot 32-62 from the field and 5-14 from 3 pt. range.

Meanwhile, back at the gym, the JU women’s team has knocked off Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Howard, and most recently Hampton.  Their largest victory over an opponent came at Ga. Southern winning 72-56.

High scoring for the men hasn’t been a problem with four different players leading that stat over the five-game spread. F Glenn Powell led in the first two games with 18 and 16 points respectively. Since then F Ayron Hardy, G Kieth McDougal and G Russell Powell have put up 17, 15 and 15.

F Lynsey Paschal has led the women’s squad consistently. She is averaging 11.6 points per game, while F Taneskei Richardson and G Crystal Bell are listed in the 10-point region. Bell also leads the team with 12 steals while G Ashanti Williams continues to bring intensity off the bench averaging 8.8 points of her own. G Jessica Gorge deserves a lot of the credit as well with an impressive 17 assists. It’s exactly this type of team production that keeps the fans, and the W’s, coming.

Not mentioned above but certainly noteworthy was G Travis Cohn’s high-flying dunk in the win against Auburn. The Alabama born Dolphin poster-and-victimized- the AU defender to bring the crowd to its feet. He and the JU men see action next against Stetson on December 2, with a 7:15p.m. tip-off at Jacksonville Veteran’s Arena.

You can catch the Dolphin women just two hours prior against the same school at the same location.

The Jacksonville University Women’s Basketball team thumped visiting Tampa 70-41 Saturday, November 6.  The Dolphins defeated the Spartans with focused play and aggressive spirit having three players score in double digits and capitalizing on lose balls.

Senior guard GiGi Thompson scored 17 and recorded four steals to lead the ladies to victory while her senior sisters forwards Taneskei Richardson and Lynsey Paschal put up 12 and 10 points respectively. Tampa turned over the ball 27 times by their own hand and allowed the Dolphins 17 steals.

Dolphins head coach Jill Dunn was quoted in the press release categorizing the team’s performance as “good start from us.”

“There are some things we need to work on before next weeks opener, but I was pleased with the effort today,” she added.

JU capped the first half with a 20-7 run and had 19 overall fast break points.  The second half began with a short-lived rally from Tampa but the Dolphins wrested control of the game and never looked back. Junior Crystal Bell added 8 points, highlighted by back-to-back steals culminating in converted layups. Freshmen Ciara McLee and Madison Scott began their playing careers on the right foot with 5 points each.

Regular season action tips off on the road this Friday, November 12 at 5 p.m. against USF, in Tampa, Florida.  The girls return to Swisher Gymnasium November 17, 20 and 23 for their first home stand.