FRISCO, Texas – The No. 11-seeded Florida Atlantic Owls (12-18, 5-15 C-USA) battled until the very end but fell just short on Wednesday as the Owls’ 2022-23 season came to an end in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament against the No. 6-seeded UTSA Roadrunners (12-18, 9-11 C-USA).
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Roadrunners struck on a 3-pointer, but the Owls immediately responded as Aniya Hubbard knocked down her 3-pointer of the day within the first minute of play to even the contest at three apiece. Back-to-back jumpers gave UTSA a four-point lead, 7-3, at the 8:20-minute mark of the first. However, the Owls scored nine unanswered over the following three minutes of clock to take a 12-7 advantage with 5:08 to play in the first. The Roadrunners answered with a 9-0 run of their own to retake the lead 16-12, but one more 5-0 FAU run closed out the period to give the Owls a one-point lead after the first, 17-16.
The Roadrunners and Owls traded leads to open the second before back-to-back UTSA layups saw the Roadrunners hold a 22-19 advantage with 3:45 to play in the half. Devyn Scott knocked down her second 3-pointer of the contest to bring the Owls back even at 22. Janeta Rozentale evened things up once more at 24-24, but UTSA scored a pair of jumpers to close out the half as the Owls trailed by four at the break, 28-24.
UTSA scored back-to-back field goals to open the third and take an eight-point lead, 32-24, at the 9:24-minute mark. After an FAU timeout, Alexa Zaph knocked down her second triple of the day and then Hubbard scored on a fastbreak jumper to bring the Owls back within three at 32-29 with 8:37 to play in the third. Over the following six minutes of clock, the Roadrunners outscored the Owls 16-8 through the 2:40-minute mark to take a 48-37 advantage, however, the Owls rallied over the final two minutes of clock to get five back as they closed the quarter on a 7-2 run to make it a two-possession game heading into the final 10 minutes of play, 50-44.
Rozentale opened scoring in the fourth on a fastbreak layup, before a pair of free throws from Zaph brought the Owls back within two at 50-48 with 8:58 to play. UTSA scored eight unanswered to retake a 10-point lead at 58-48 at the 7:02-minute mark. Hubbard scored on an And-1 to spark an 8-0 FAU run, which was capped off by Zaph’s fifth 3-pointer of the day to cut the Owls’ deficit back down to one possession with just under five minutes to play, 58-56. Following another Roadrunner 3-pointer, a Hubbard jumper in the paint and a pair of free throws from Zaph brought the Owls within one at 61-60 with 3:31 to play. UTSA extended their lead to three at 65-62, but Joiya Maddox scored on the and-1 and finished it off with a free throw to bring the Owls even at 65 with 1:37 on the clock. Hubbard drew a foul and knocked down a free throw to give the Owls a one-point lead at 66-65. UTSA tallied a pair of free throws to retake a 67-66 lead, but a hook shot in the paint from Rozentale put the Owls back in front 68-67 with just 15 seconds to play. However, the Roadrunners drew a foul with six seconds on the clock and connected on both free throws to close out the contest as the Owls fell 69-68.
QUOTE FROM COACH SULLY
“So proud of our performance today. We never gave up and found a way to take the lead. One or two stops finish our way, and we advance. We’ll hang onto this feeling as motivation for next year.”
NOTES AND TEAM STATS
- Alexa Zaph led the Owls against the Roadrunners, scoring a team-high 19 points, shooting 50 percent (5-of-10) from the field, 71 percent (5-of-7) from 3-point range, and going a perfect 100 percent (4-of-4) from the line.
- Aniya Hubbard and Joiya Maddox also registered double-digit performances in the contest, scoring 17 points and 14 points, respectively.
- Hubbard also dished out a team-leading four assists against the Roadrunners.
- Janeta Rozentale led the Owls on the boards, registering a season-high 12 rebounds in the contest.
- Florida Atlantic outshot UTSA from 3-point range, 43 percent to 30 percent, in addition to outscoring the Roadrunners off the bench, 14-8.
- The Owls also outscored the Roadrunners 17-16 in the first and had their best quarter of the day in the fourth, outscoring UTSA 24-19.
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