Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Samford women's basketball team was unable to overcome a cold shooting night as the Bulldogs fell at North Florida, 62-44, Monday night at UNF Arena.
 
Samford made just 26.9 percent of its shots from floor and 32.0 percent of its three-pointers. North Florida shot 50.0 percent overall and 36.8 percent from beyond the arc. UNF scored the first 12 points of the game, and Samford missed its first 11 shots of the contest.
 
"North Florida started the game well, made some tough threes and got ahead of us," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "I was disappointed in the way we reacted. We missed some layups, we missed some open threes. We really let the fact that we were missing shots and they made some tough shots affect us. We couldn't really get over that."
 
In the loss, Samford was led in scoring by Krista Stricklin with 15 points. Hannah Nichols scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds.
 
For North Florida, Chandler Merkerson had 14 points and seven rebounds. Destinee Smith also scored 14 points for the Ospreys. Ki Conner added 11 points for UNF.
 
After UNF started the game on a 12-0 run, Samford put its first points on the scoreboard when Stricklin hit a three-pointer with 10:11 to go in the first half. A pair of free throws by Stricklin made the score 12-5 with 9:34 left in the first half. Back-to-back jumpers by UNF pushed the lead back out to 11 points at 16-5 with 8:49 left in the half.
 
Samford cut the North Florida lead to just seven points at 18-11 with 6:10 to go in the first half after a layup by Ellen Riggins. UNF, however, answered with a 12-0 run to push its lead to 30-11 with 2:38 to go in the opening period. The Ospreys took a 31-14 lead into halftime.
 
The Ospreys scored the first six points of the second half to push their lead to 23 points and 37-14 with 17:38 to go after a jumper by Merkerson. Samford fought back to cut the lead to 16 points at 43-27 with 12:48 to go after a three-pointer by Nichols.
 
North Florida pushed its lead back out to 20 points at 49-29 with 6:26 to go after a layup by Raneisha Lamar. Samford could get no closer than 17 points the rest of the way as UNF came away with the 62-44 win.
 
With the loss, Samford drops to 1-2 on the season. North Florida improves to 2-2 with the win.
 
Samford will return to action on Sunday, Nov. 24, when the Bulldogs play at cross-town rival UAB in the first playing of the Red Mountain Rivalry. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. (CT) from Bartow Arena.