BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (5-21, 1-14 in Conference USA) put up a good fight against one of the league leaders in Old Dominion (21-6, 11-4 in C-USA) Thursday night. The Owls fell victim to an 11-0 run by the Monarchs late in the game, however, as FAU dropped the contest 70-55 behind three Owls in double digits.
HOW IT WAS DECIDED
1Q
Rita Peskevich got the Owls’ offense started with her excellent midrange game. A Simona Henshaw putback basket followed by two Sofia Galeron triples elevated the Owls ahead for the first time of the game, 10-8, with 3:48 left in the first quarter. ODU cut the lead to one off a 3-pointer, but Alexa Zaph came up with a jumper from the charity stripe and accompanied that with a long 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring with under a minute left in the first. The Owls led 19-13.
2Q
The Owl defense continued to show aggressive play, especially from Nikola Ozola, who was making it tough for ODU to get anything going offensively. ODU started the quarter shooting 2-for-11 from the field, as FAU continued to lead and was ahead 26-17 with under 4:22 left in the half. FAU continued to gear up defensively when the offense wasn’t rolling, as Zaph took a charge. The Owls did not score for over two minutes until Amber Gaston delivered a putback basket. ODU then went on a 7-0 run to close out the first half and the Owls led 30-29 at the half.
3Q
The Monarchs took the lead for the first time since the first quarter off a jumper, but the Owls were able to tie it up at 34 off two Janeta Rozentale free throws. The Monarchs took control to go on a 7-0 run in under two minutes while FAU did not make a field goal for nearly five minutes. FAU took a timeout with under five remaining, as ODU led 41-34. Pleskevich helped the Owls get out of the drought with a jump shot and Rozentale followed on the next possession with a jumper of her own, as the Owls trailed by three with three minutes left in the third. Out of the media timeout, Pleskevich knocked down a jumper to cut the Monarchs’ lead to one. In the final minute of the quarter, ODU dug out of its nearly four minute scoring with layups on back-to-back possessions, NS the Monarchs took a 45-40 advantage going into the final quarter.
4Q
Zaph continued her hot shooting going into the start of the final quarter with a jumper. ODU immediately took a timeout, as the Owls trailed 45-42 one minute into the fourth. FAU fought hard to get past the ODU press and did so to find an open Pleskevich under the basket to inch the Owls within one. ODU then responded on the other end with a jumper, but Rozentale cut the deficit to one once again. The Monarchs answered with an 11-0 run and FAU trailed 58-46 with under four left in the game. That run showed to be the difference maker, as the Monarchs outscored the Owls 25-15 in the fourth quarter to defeat the Owls, 70-55.
GAME NOTES
- Pleskevich led the Owls with 16 points off 7-for-18 shooting to tally her 17th double digit scoring game of the season. She added four rebounds
- Zaph followed with 14 points off 6-for-13 from the field for her 14th double digit scoring contest
- Rozentale tallied 10 points and six boards in her first game back since Jan. 29
- Galeron registered nine rebounds with six points
- Gaston tallied seven points, four boards and two blocks
- FAU ended the night with a 2+ rebound margin and significantly improved on turnovers from the last time the two teams squared. FAU committed just 11 compared to 31 from the last matchup
SULLY’S STATEMENTS
Opening statement:
“I’m disappointed in our third and fourth quarter defense. We couldn’t get a stop or we gave up a foul or a layup, but overall I was pleased with how we took care of the basketball [compared to] the first game [played at ODU earlier this year] to finish with 11 turnovers and outrebounded them. Those are two positives, but defense is an area we need to get better at.”
On the team’s balanced effort on offense:
“I was really excited how aggressive Rita Pleskevich was [and] I thought she did a good job. Lex [Alexa Zaph] did a good job carrying us for a good part of the game and it was nice having Janeta [Rozentale] back.”
Message going into Saturday’s game:
“I think we will be in the same situation, and late in the third and fourth quarter we need to focus on getting stops in order to give ourselves a chance to win.”
UP NEXT
FAU is set to host Charlotte on Saturday for a noon tipoff at Abessinio Court at FAU Arena. Tickets for the game can be purchased here or by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
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