MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - A rough start for North Florida women's basketball (2-7) loomed large against Minnesota (10-0), where the Ospreys fell, 90-44, on Tuesday evening in Minneapolis, Minn.

The Ospreys had solid performances from Helena Rafnsdottir and Kaila Rougier, who both reached double figures in scoring for the third and fourth times this season respectively. Rafnsdottir had 14 points with five rebounds, while Rougier just cracked the double-digit mark with 10 points, four boards and a pair of steals.

MINN 90, UNF 44

RECORDS

North Florida | 2-7
Minnesota | 10-0

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

First Half: Kaila Rougier had the first points for the Ospreys with a turnaround, step-back jumper in the paint...Helena Rafnsdottir stopped a scoring run for the Gophers with her own jumper just before the media break...Nicole Carreno scored another UNF bucket with a minute left in the opening quarter...the UNF freshmen had a scoring run in the second period with a three from Jamisyn Stinson, along with back-to-back buckets from Jasmynne Gibson...Rafnsdottir returned with a score, followed with a deep make from Anja Ekstrom to go into the half.

Second Half: Sarah Taub started out of the break with consecutive layups for the Ospreys in the third quarter...Rougier made another shot midway through the third to jumpstart a 10-0 run to close out the period...UNF didn't allow Minnesota to score over the last four minutes until a buzzer-beating three to end there quarter...Rafnsdottir also made a three in the 10-0 run, as her and Rougier combined for the 12 points over the final five minutes of the period...Carreno returned with a catch-and-shoot corner shot to nail her first three-pointer of the game...Rafnsdottir earned six of the last seven points for the Ospreys to close out the game in the Twin Cities.

LEADERS BY THE NUMBERS

UNF
Helena Rafnsdottir | 14 points, 5 rebounds
Kaila Rougier | 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
Sarah Taub | 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

MINN
Annika Stewart | 15 points, 3 rebounds
Grace Grocholski | 15 points
Amaya Battle | 11 points, 6 steals, 4 assists, 3 rebounds

COACH'S THOUGHTS

"We had our hands full tonight. Minnesota has a very balanced inside-outside attack. Our primary focus was to limit their three-point attempts and we did not do that. With this being our third contest in five days, I think our team's inexperience showed. I was disappointed in our lack of focus and intensity to start the game. We picked it up and competed much better after the first period, but it's tough to dig out of a hole like that. Minnesota's size had a lot to do with poor quality of our shots. We had zero free throw attempts at halftime. We challenged our players to finish stronger around the rim and got to the line 10 times in the second half. I liked the offensive rebounding effort from our bigs, but we need to be more intentional about converting those second-chance points."

NOTES

• Along with leading the team in points, Rafnsdottir also had the top mark in minutes played with 32 total.
• Eklund was either sole or shared team leader with five rebounds and three assists on the night.
• The Ospreys had the advantage in offensive boards through 40 minutes with a 10-8 margin.
• UNF participated in its first and only non-conference game this season set after 3 p.m.
• First game against Minnesota in program history, where UNF assistant coach Gadiva Hubbard played.

UP NEXT

North Florida comes back for an in-state non-conference road trip over down the Florida Panhandle to face Florida A&M on Saturday, Dec. 7, with tip-off set for 2 p.m., in Tallahassee, Fla.