BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (10-10, 8-8 in Conference USA) is in Frisco, Texas for the 2021 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championships. No. 3-seed FAU is set to face off against No. 6-UAB in the opening round tomorrow, Wednesday, at 3:30 p.m. (EST) at the Ford Center at the Star. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
ABOUT THE OWLS
- The Owls are winners of seven of the last nine games and look to earn its first C-USA Tournament victory in program history. FAU’s last postseason tournament win came in 2012
- With FAU’s win over Charlotte last Friday (77-73), the Owls captured their eighth conference victory, which marks the most C-USA wins in the program’s history
- FAU finished the regular season tied for No. 3 with FIU in the East Division. The Owls won the tiebreaker over the Panthers and will serve as the three seed
- Head coach Jim Jabir is in his fourth season at the helm
- Iggy Allen leads the team with 22.4 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. Alexa Zaph delivers a team’s most 3.1 assists per game. Janeta Rozentale averages 8.6 rebounds per game and is tied with Amber Gaston for a team-leading 1.2 blocks per game
- FAU leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game (15.3)
FAU POSTSEASON HISTORY
- FAU is 0-6 in C-USA Tournament games
- The Owls’ last tournament win came at the 2012 Sun Belt Tournament with a 56-55 victory against North Texas
- FAU is coming off a 95-67 loss against UTEP in the opening round at the 2020 C-USA Tournament. Juliette Gauthier tallied 10 points and Astou Gaye captured nine points and seven rebounds
- The Owls’ only NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2012 after FAU won the ASUN Championships in 2006. FAU went on to play LSU in the NCAA Tournament
- FAU also made a WNIT appearance in 2012, losing in the first round to USF, 76-20
HISTORY AGAINST THE BLAZERS
- UAB leads 10-2 in the all-time series
- The Owls and Blazers have played every year since 2014, the Owls’ first season in C-USA
- FAU’s last meeting in the 2020 season resulted in a 92-73 loss. Gauthier tallied 12 points and five boards and Gaye had 10 points
- The first meeting in the series came in 2003, where the Owls fell, 95-73, at the UAB Lady Blazer Classic
- FAU’s victories came during the 2015 (66-56) and 2016 (52-51) seasons
- FAU is 1-4 at home and 1-6 away in the series
SCOUTING UAB
- UAB is 10-12 (3-11 in C-USA play), ending the regular season sixth in the West Division
- The Blazers were picked to finish seventh in the league, as voted on by the league’s coaches
- Margaret Whitley and Zakyia Weathersby were tabbed to the All-C-USA Second Team
- Whitley is averaging 19.7 PPG (fourth in C-USA) and has 67 assists, which both lead the team
- Weathersby tallies 13.4 PPG and 12.0 RPG, which leads the conference. She has also posted 41 blocks this year (second in C-USA)
- Caitlynn Daniels is tied with Whitley for a team’s most 17 steals. Daniels was named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team
- UAB leads the conference in free throw percentage (0.749), rebounds per game (42.9) and defensive rebounds per game (30.6)
LAST TIME OUT
- FAU split with Charlotte in the regular season series finale
- The Owls won the first game, 77-73, to lock up the No. 3 seed in the East Division. Allen went on a tear for 30 points and 10 boards
- Also in Friday’s game, Gaye tallied 16 points, eight boards and a block, while Sofia Galeron had 10 points and five rebounds
- FAU outrebounded the 49ers by a +15.0 margin
- In the second game, FAU dropped the contest, 83-73, despite four Owls reaching double digits in scoring
- Allen led by being just shy of a double-double (17 points and nine rebounds) and Rozentale captured her fourth double-double of the year (13 points and 10 rebounds)
- Gaye (14 points and seven boards) and Rita Pleskevich (12 points) also reached double digits in scoring, while Zaph had 5+ assists in both games
- FAU tallied 10+ 3-pointers in both games
AN OWL WIN MEANS
- The first C-USA Tournament game win
- The first postseason win since 2012
- Snapping a five-game losing streak against UAB
- A chance to get over .500
UPCOMING
The winner will face No. 2 seed UTEP out of the West Division on Thursday with a 3:30 p.m. (EST) tipoff.
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