The Jacksonville women’s basketball team cruised past the Queens Royals 83-76 Saturday afternoon for the program’s third-straight win.
The Dolphins (10-10, 4-4 ASUN) were led by sophomore forward Saniyah Craig. After setting a career-high in points on Thursday, she one-upped herself with a new career high of 25 points. Craig also grabbed 10 rebounds, giving her her seventh double-double of the season.
“She’s electric,” JU head coach Special Jennings said. “She’s able to rebound, catch it, put the ball on the floor, and she’s only a sophomore. She’s going to be really good.”
Queens took the first quarter with strong three-point shooting and stingy defense. By the second quarter, though, the Dolphins settled in and found their groove. On the first possession of the quarter, junior guard Julene Royale splashed a wide-open triple, and JU took off from their.
Craig dominated the paint and added a bit of scoring from the outside. She bullied her way to 19 points and five rebounds in just the first half. Jacksonville outscored the Royals 25-11 in the second quarter to turn a first quarter deficit to a nine-point halftime lead.
Jacksonville carried that momentum into the third quarter. Royale hit a pair of triples and the Dolphins pushed their lead up to 18 points. Queens responded though, battling to keep the lead at 14 heading into the final period.
The Royals cut the lead down to eight with three minutes to play, and Jacksonville counted on its leaders to see out the game.
Craig drew a foul and hit both of her attempts from the stripe. Senior guard Edyn Battle took the ball to the rack and drew a foul. She added a basket from the line to give the ‘Phins a seven-point lead with 85 seconds left to play.
After Queens cut the lead down to five, Battle got to the line again. She went two-for-two to restore the seven-point lead and ice out the game.
Game Notes
- Craig scored 20-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time in her career.
- Battle scored 22 points, her seventh-straight game with 20-plus points.
- Royle finished with nine points, a season-high and one shy of her career high.
- The Dolphins move to 8-1 at Swisher Gymnasium this season.
- Jacksonville moves to .500 on the season overall and in ASUN play.
Head Coach Special Jennings
“We keep stacking days. We’re getting healthier, we’re getting into the flow of the season. But the biggest thing is that we’re stacking days and stacking wins.”
Up Next
The Dolphins will head back on the road for the Kentucky leg of the ASUN season. Jacksonville will first face the Eastern Kentucky Colonels on Thursday at 7 PM.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source judolphins.com ’
