River City Rumble Re-Do: North Florida, Jacksonville women will play twice this week

The University of North Florida and Jacksonville University women’s basketball teams will try again.

Except this time they’re playing their River City Rumble games twice in three days and will enter the first game tied for 10th in the ASUN — the final spot for the conference tournament March 8-16.

UNF will play host to JU on Thursday at 7 p.m, at UNF Arena in a makeup of their game originally scheduled for Jan. 20. It was postponed due to “health and safety concerns” within the JU program that were never fully explained, with the postponement announced less than 18 hours before tipoff.

The two teams will play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Swisher Gym.

They were both 1-3 in the ASUN at the time of the postponement, and things haven’t gotten much better under first-year head coaches Erika Lambert at UNF and Special Jennings at JU.

The Ospreys (8-16) and Dolphins (6-17) are both 2-8 in the conference. They’re both coming off difficult road losses on Saturday, UNF falling at Lipscomb 94-82 in double overtime and JU losing at Austin Peay 75-67, with a fourth-quarter rally falling short.

Needless to say, they're both in must-win situations if they want to have a chance of making the 10-team field for the ASUN tournament.

Both programs are undergoing growing pains under their new coaches but have been competitive in the ASUN more often than not.

Six of JU’s conference losses have been by 10 points or less and seven — throwing out a 22-point loss to unbeaten Florida Gulf Coast — by been by an average margin of 7.5 points.

UNF’s loss to Lipscomb was its fourth by single digits. They beat Austin Peay 52-50 earlier in the week on Jayla Adams’ layup with six seconds left.

JU enters the week with a 26-14 edge in the rivalry but since breaking a 14-game losing streak to the Dolphins in 2020, the Ospreys are 6-3.

It's the first time in the history of the rivalry that two first-year coaches will be on the opposite sidelines.

Are the Dolphins untracked?

JU’s men won two consecutive ASUN games for the first time this season, beating Central Arkansas 59-55 and North Alabama 67-63, both at Swisher Gym.

JU is now 4-7 in the ASUN and in a three-way tie for ninth place with Kennesaw and Queens. The Dolphins lost to Kennesaw and beat Queens earlier this season and can square the head-to-head at KSU on Wednesday. JU then plays at Queens on Friday.

Both games were white-knuckle rides. Sophomore guard Robert McCray (22 points) hit a 3-pointer with 2:40 left against UCA to give JU a 57-52 lead but they scored only two more points after that, free throws with two seconds left by graduate senior forward Bryce Workman.

JU had a 62-56 lead over North Alabama with 2:07 left on two free throws by Jackson graduate Stephon Payne III (11 points, 10 rebounds). But McCray (18 points) missed a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left, Eion Nelson tipped in a miss for North Alabama and Bishop Snyder graduate Gyasi Powell (12 points) made only one of two from the line for a 65-62 lead.

That’s when JU guard Jarius Cook made a smart move. He fouled Jacari Lane with four seconds remaining before he could get in position for a 3-point attempt. Lane made the back end of the two-shot foul and McCray was fouled intentionally. He made both free throws with 3.3 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

In his first two games back since breaking his hand on Dec. 5, Workman had 23 points and 20 rebounds.

JU coach Jordan Mincy was hit with two technicals and ejected less than four minutes into the game and assistant coach Michael Fly, the former head coach at Florida Gulf Coast, ran the team after that.

Ospreys' skid reaches three games

North Florida lost its third ASUN game on Saturday at UNF Arena, 79-77 to Central Arkansas. UNF is now 6-5 in the conference and fell into a three-way tie for fourth, However, the Ospreys have lost head-to-head with the two teams tied with them, North Alabama and Austin Peay and won’t play either team for the rest of the regular season.

UNF had a chance to tie the game after UCA’s Daniel Sofield missed two free throws with 11.4 seconds left but Chaz Lanier (21 points), who rebounded the second miss, raced upcourt without calling a timeout, penetrated and got a good look in the middle of the lane.

He missed the shot and junior guard Nate Lliteras’ put-back came a hair after time expired, with the officials reviewing the play to make certain.

UNF coach Matthew Driscoll said Lanier had the green light to push the ball up the court without calling a time-out and to decide whether he should attempt a 3-pointer to win (Lanier is shooting 52.7 from beyond the arc in ASUN play).

“Chaz took a 10-foot shot in the middle of the lane to tie the game,” Driscoll said. “I’m not sure I could draw up a better play. We put the ball in our best player’s hands and let him decide the game.”

UNF’s problems start with defense: opposing teams are shooting 51.5 percent overall and are averaging only nine turnovers per game during the losing streak. The season averages for Ospreys opponents are 46.4 percent and 11 turnovers per game.

“It seems like we’ve lost that connectivity about who we really are and the way in which we did things to get there,” Driscoll said of his team’s 5-1 and 6-2 start in the ASUN. “As head coach, it’s my responsibility to help these guys understand that.”

Men: Robert McCray V leads Dolphins to their best week

Player of the week: McCray scored 40 points in the Dolphins’ two victories last week. In his last eight games, he’s averaging 20.2 points and 4.6 assists, shooting 52.5 percent from the floor.

Stat line of the week: Flagler junior guard Jax Bouknight had 20 points, four rebounds, six assists and four steals in the Saints’ 102-83 loss to USC-Aiken.

This week’s games

Monday

Edward Waters at Clark Atlanta, 8 p.m.

Wednesday

Jacksonville at Kennesaw (Ga.), 7 p.m.

North Florida at Queens (N.C.), 7 p.m.

Flagler at Augusta (Ga.), 7:30 p.m.

Friday

Jacksonville at Queens (N.C.), 7 p.m.

North Florida at Kennesaw (Ga.), 7 p.m.

Saturday

Flagler at Clayton State (Ga.), 5 p.m.

Edward Waters at Savannah State, 5 p.m.

Noting UNF (13-13, 6-5): Graduate senior forward Dorian James played in his 136th game in an Osprey uniform on Saturday against Central Arkansas, breaking the school record he shared with Dallas Moore and Carter Hendricksen. ... Since establishing his career high of 33 points against Queens on Jan. 25, Lanier has averaged 27.3 in his last six games and has topped 20 points in all but one of them. He’s shooting 55.9 percent from the floor overall and 48.9 from beyond the arc during that span.

Noting JU (13-12, 4-7): Thanks to one of the numerous ASUN scheduling quirks, the Dolphins were playing North Alabama at home for the first time in five games, going back to 2021. They lost three of those four games and had played the Lions only twice at Swisher Gym, splitting before Saturday’s victory. ... JU is 4-0 against Central Arkansas. ... Payne had his third double-double in four games and his sixth double-figure rebounding game of the season.

Noting Edward Waters (10-12, 9-7): The Tigers had a season-high in points with their 104-93 victory over Benedict (S.C.). Junior guard Goliath Mitchell had 31 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and shot 12 of 17 from the floor. Junior forward Kristian Ford had 22 points off the bench and sophomore guard Trevino Glover added 16 points, making all four of his 3-point attempts. ... EWC shot 61.2 percent from the floor, made half of their 22 3-point attempts and outscored Benedict 46-16 in bench points.

Noting Trinity Baptist (10-10, 6-6 NCCAA Region II South): The Eagles are on their longest winning streak of the season at three games, all coming last week. Sophomore guard Diego Fernandez was the catalyst, averaging 23.7 points for the week, including 28 points in an 86-81 victory over Trinity College (Fla.). Fernandez made 28 of 32 (87.5) from the foul line. ... Junior guard Xavier Rose had nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists against Trinity. ... Junior guard D.J. Thompson had 12 points and nine rebounds in a 76-71 victory over Johnson University (Fla.) and 18 points and six rebounds in a 77-72 victory over Southeastern Baptist (Miss.).

Noting Flagler (13-9, 6-6 Peach Belt): The Saints had a tough week with on-ball defense in two losses. USC-Aiken shot 66.7 percent from the floor and 60.9 on 3-point attempts (14 of 23), and Georgia College hit 59 percent of its shots and 60 percent (9 of 15) from beyond the arc in an 88-82 victory. ... Omar Figueroa led the Saints with 23 points against USC-Aiken and Destin Clark had 22 against Georgia College. ... Flagler can sweep Augusta in the season series for the first time since 2021 on Wednesday on the road, and have a 10-game winning streak against Saturday’s opponent, Clayton State.

Women: Trinity's Madlyn Touze dominates

Player of the week: Trinity Baptist freshman forward Madyln Touze had 45 points and 26 rebounds in two games. She came two rebounds short of her fourth 20-20 game this season when she had 20 points and 18 rebounds (14 of them on the offensive end) in a 77-60 victory over Johnson (Fla.).

Stat line of the week: Touze had 25 points, eight rebounds, six steals and three blocked shots in a 75-62 victory over Trinity College.

This week’s games

Monday

Edward Waters at Clark Atlanta, 5:30 p.m.

Denmark Technical College at Trinity Baptist, 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday

Flagler at Augusta (Ga.), 5:30 p.m.

Thursday

Jacksonville at North Florida, 7 p.m.

Saturday

North Florida at Jacksonville, 2 p.m.

Flagler at Clayton State (Ga.), 3 p.m.

Edward Waters at Savannah State, 3 p.m.

Noting UNF (8-16, 2-8 ASUN): The Ospreys staged a dramatic rally against Lipscomb, outscoring the Bison 24-9 in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. Freshman guard Alexa Washington scored 16 of her 19 points in the final period, with four 3-pointers. Senior forward Emma Broermann tied the game with a layup at the buzzer. Both team scored only five points in the first overtime and Lipscomb broke fast in the second OT and outscored UNF 11-1 to put the game away. Broerman had 11 points and 10 rebounds. ... Adams had 15 points in the victory over Austin Peay.

Noting JU (6-17, 2-8 ASUN): Junior guard Edyn Battle scored 29 points off the bench in the loss to Austin Peay, with four assists. ... Freshman forward Saniyah Craig added 13 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. ... Battle is averaging 20.6 points over her last five games. She leads the ASUN with 19.3 per game. ... Junior guard Jalisa Dunlap led the Dolphins with 14 points in the loss to Lipscomb.

Noting Edward Waters (8-14, 6-9 SIAC): Senior guard Sha’Kawanza Brown led the Tigers’ 71 victory over Benedict (S.C.) with 16 points, five assists and two steals. ... Junior guard Tatum Hayes had 15 points off the bench, all on 3-point hits, hitting 5 of 9. She was a big reason EWC outscored Benedict 34-14 in bench points.

Noting Trinity Baptist (8-13, 4-6 NCCAA Division II South): With their two victories last week, the Eagles have won four of their last seven and had only their second two-game winning streak of the season. ... Junior guard Emma Parris of Palm Coast had 13 points, five assists and five steals against Trinity College and 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals against Johnson. ... Sophomore guard Caroline Smith had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds against Trinity and then had nine points and 10 rebounds against Johnson.

Noting Flagler (10-12, 5-7 Peach Belt): The Saints split two games last week but junior guard Destiny McClendon stood out in both. She had 21 points in a victory over USC-Aiken, then accounted for nearly half of her team’s points with 22 in a 60-45 loss at Georgia College. McClendon made 13 of 14 free throws in that game, the fourth time this season she has made 10 or more from the line. She leads the Peach Belt with a 90.8 percent mark, 61 percentage points higher than the next player. ... Junior guard Dane Bertolina had 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists against USC-Aiken.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Rumble squared: UNF, JU women's teams will face off twice this week