JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida women's basketball continues its road trip this weekend as the Ospreys look to win back-to-back games in a battle against Miami (FL) on Sunday, Dec. 4, with tip-off set at 2 p.m.
Sunday's game will be broadcasted on ACCNX with updates made through live stats, as well as on Twitter at OspreyWBB.
FROM THE JUMP
- This will be the first meeting between UNF and Miami since Nov. 28, 2020, after last season's matchup was postponed and never rescheduled.
- The Ospreys started the month of December with a win for the second time in the past 11 seasons.
- Lyric Swann continues to lead the Ospreys in scoring, averaging 14.7 points with a team-high 33.2 minutes played per game.
- No one else on the team has more than 27 MPG and she joins Emma Broermann and Brianna Livingston as the only players to start in all six games.
- Emma Broermann has joined Lyric Swann as a major scoring contributor after putting up back-to-back games of over 16 points, as well as having double-digits points in three of her last four games.
- She also has been dominating on the boards with 29 combined rebounds over her past three games.
- After Thursday's game, all three freshmen have now made at least one start through the first six games of the season.
- Sarah Taub leads the group in scoring with at least one field goal in all six games, as she either surpassed or matched her career-highs with seven rebounds, two assists and three steals against Bethune-Cookman.
- UNF continues to improve in rebounding, as they set a game-high mark as a team on the boards with 46 total against B-CU earlier this week.
- Victory against Bethune-Cookman was the first under head coach Darrick Gibbs with only one Osprey scoring double-digits.
- Also picked up first win of the season where UNF was trailing at the half.
- Head Coach Darrick Gibbs is very familiar with Miami, having spent 10 seasons in Coral Gables.
SCOUTING REPORT
- Miami holds a 6-3 record before Sunday's matchup, but has lost their last two games to Columbia and Michigan.
- A pair of their six wins so far came against in-state opponent FAU, as well as fellow ASUN opponent, Stetson.
- After the Hurricanes play UNF, they will head into back-to-back rivalry games against Florida and Florida State.
- Miami is coming off an impressive 2021 campaign with an ACC Championship Game appearance and an NCAA appearance where they lost to the eventual tournament champions, South Carolina, in the second round.
- UM has three players averaging over 10 points per game led by Destiny Harden, who is averaging 11.6 PPG and 5.1 RPG.
- Ja'Leah Williams and Haley Cavinder are the other two players averaging just over 10 PPG while playing 24-25 minutes per game.
- Lazaria Spearman joins Harden as the rebound leaders on the team with 46 total through nine games played.
- In their latest game against Michigan, Lashae Dwyer, as well as Harden and Cavinder, all scored 12 or more points and combined for 18 rebounds, six assists and six steals.
AN OSPREY WIN ON SUNDAY WOULD...
- Be the first win over the Hurricanes in program history.
- Notch first back-to-back road wins for UNF for the first time since Mar. 6, 2021.
- Give them their first-ever win over a Power Five program.
PROJECTED UNF STARTING FIVE
G - Brianna Livingston (7.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.2 APG)
G - Helena Rafnsdottir (2.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 0.5 APG)
G - Kaila Rougier (5.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 3.0 APG)
G - Lyric Swann (14.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.3 APG)
F - Emma Broermann (10.0 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.2 APG)
LAST TIME VS. MIAMI (FL)
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - North Florida women's basketball suffered an 81-39 loss at Miami on Saturday afternoon at the Watsco Center. It is the second of the Ospreys three straight road contests.
LAST 5 vs. HURRICANES
Date Result Location
11/28/20 L, 39-81 Coral Gables, Fla.
11/13/19 L, 55-78 Coral Gables, Fla.
11/21/14 L, 53-81 Coral Gables, Fla.
11/08/13 L, 39-79 Coral Gables, Fla.
11/09/12 L, 24-77 Coral Gables, Fla.
LOOKING AHEAD
UNF returns for one last home game before finals week when they take on Trinity Baptist, on Friday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m.
OTHER SEASON NOTES
ELEVEN
The Ospreys will sport an 11-player roster throughout the 2022-23 season, which is the lowest it has been since the 2017-18 season.
NEWBIES
The Ospreys have plenty of new faces to go around with six transfers and three freshmen bringing their talents to Jacksonville, Fla.
Elysa Wesolek (South Carolina),
Brianna Livingston (Monmouth),
Selma Eklund (UNC-Wilmington) come directly from D-I programs, while
Kristy Hamze (Queens),
Lyric Swann (CCBC Essex) and
Jaelyn Swann (CCBC Essex) are additions from D-II/NJCCA institutions. Lyric and
Jaelyn Swann do have experience playing at the D-I level, as they previously played for UMBC before transferring to CCBC Essex.
UNF brings in three freshmen after only have one on the roster this past season (
Kaila Rougier).
Maddie Millar, the only in-state product on the team, and
Sarah Taub are guards with stellar shooting abilities.
Helena Rafnsdottir also joins as a freshman after playing for her club team in Iceland since she was five years old, as well as the Icelandic Women's National Team.
Assistant coach
Myron Brown is also welcomed as a newcomer to the squad, as he joins the Ospreys' coaching staff after being the head women's basketball coach for Thomas University since 2017.
TWIN TIES
Lyric and
Jaelyn Swann both transfer in from CCBC Essex in Maryland to join the Osprey roster. They are one of 15 sets of twins playing for the same Division I women's basketball team this season.
This is also the second consecutive year that UNF will sport a set of sisters on the squad, as Jazz and
Jaida Bond both played for the Ospreys this past year.
CONFERENCE CONNECTIONS
North Florida makes it two years in a row that they have a player transfer in from another current ASUN squad.
Kristy Hamze played for Queens (N.C.) the past two seasons, who will now join the conference in their first year as a Division I team.
Last season,
Jaida Bond transferred into UNF to join forces with sister, Jazz, where she came in from North Alabama as a previous all-conference selection.
INTERNATIONAL FACES
Helena Rafnsdottir (Iceland),
Selma Eklund (Sweden) and
Brianna Livingston (Canada) all join the Ospreys this season representing three different countries. Rafnsdottir and Eklund both have experience playing for the national teams of their respective countries.
It's the third straight season rostering three or more international players, while it also being the first time since 2014-15 that three or more players come from unique countries outside the United States.
INTERNATIONAL PLACES
UNF will make the trip out the Dublin, Ireland, to compete in the MAAC-ASUN Dublin Challenge, joining Eastern Kentucky as the fellow ASUN member playing against MAAC foes.
They are scheduled to compete against Rider on Friday, Nov. 18, at 2:30 p.m. EST, followed by a matchup against Marist the next day on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 9:30 a.m. EST.
SUNSHINE STATE
UNF plays 17 of their 29 games this season inside the state of Florida, including 13 of the 17 matchups played at UNF Arena.
ROAD RUNNERS
The Ospreys will visit six different states in their travel schedule on the year, along with their pair of games overseas in Dublin, Ireland.
UNF will visit Wisconsin, Ireland and Alabama before Christmas break, and will return with trips to North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Out of this year's road slate, the Ospreys will play against four Power Five opponents in Wisconsin, Miami (FL), Auburn and Alabama.
BROERMANN TIME
Emma Broermann leads this team as the unquestioned leader heading into the 2021-22 season. She enters he senior season as the only player on the team with more than one year of experience playing for UNF.
Last season, she was the only player on the team to start all 30 games played. The Okeana, Ohio, native also had the second-best field goal percentage (.602) and the ninth-most blocks (25) in the conference.
Broermann enters her senior season with the Ospreys sitting in the top spot for field goal percentage (.550), as well as the 10th-most blocks (37), in D-I program history.
