Date Posted: 3/5/2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Nursing a one-point halftime lead, the Jacksonville Dolphins turned up the pressure in the second half, and parlayed a 13-0 run into a 61-47 opening round victory at the General Shale Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Wednesday afternoon.

The Dolphins (22-8) advance to the semifinals, and will face the Gardner-Webb/Campbell winner Friday at noon. JU also set a new single-season record for wins with the victory. Stetson wraps up its season at 9-21, bringing an end to head coach Dee Romine's 15-year tenure at the institution.

Following a tightly contested first half, the Dolphins broke the contest open with a 13-0 run that spanned five minutes of action in the second half, and gave JU a 48-35 lead. After Ayesha Barkley hit a jumper to tie the game at 35 with 14:24 remaining, the Dolphin defense shut down the Hatter offense, and held Stetson scoreless until Barkley connected again with 9:15 to play. Junior Virginia Gregoire score six of her 10 points during the game-deciding run, and the Dolphins never allowed Stetson closer than nine the rest of the way.

"JU took us out of a lot of stuff" said Stetson head coach Dee Romine. "You have to give them credit. It was hard-fought game. JU has the experience, maturity and poise to come back and control the game."

Jacksonville opened the game on a 6-1 run, but Stetson responded, never letting the Dolphins out of striking distance, and tied the game in the half's final minute before Regina Omoite hit the only three-point field goal of the game to send the Dolphins to the locker room with a one-point lead despite a Barkley jumper at the buzzer.

Omoite and Ashley Williams led the balanced Jacksonville attack with 12 points each, and Courtney Jackson and Williams each pulled down six rebounds. Barkley powered the Hatters as she finished with a game-high 20 points and joined with Sharnesha Smith to pull down a team-best six rebounds.

“I thought the biggest difference [in the second half] was our defense started picking it up," said Jacksonville head coach Jill Dunn. "We started doing a much better job of collapsing on them in the post. Our guards kept coming out and putting a lot of pressure on the backcourt. We came up with some easy steals which led into transition baskets for us.”

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