MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (8-8, 2-3 C-USA) fell to Middle Tennessee (11-6, 4-1 C-USA) Thursday night, 81-66. The Owls trailed the Lady Raiders by three at the start of the fourth quarter, but were outscored 30-18 in the final frame of play. Astou Gaye and Crystal Primm recorded their second consecutive double-doubles in the loss.
How It Was Decided:
The Owls opened up the game on a 9-2 run with Gaye capturing five of those points on a 3-pointer and layup. MT went on a 6-0 run, but six quick points by Primm before the half elevated the Owls to a 15-10 lead. The Lady Raiders then closed out the final minute of the frame with three straight points to cut the Owls’ lead, 15-13.
Primm opened up the quarter with a layup and was followed by Gaye who sunk a shot from beyond the arc. With both teams getting cold, there was no offensive scoring for 2:18, but Gaye broke the Owls’ scoring drought with a layup in the paint. On back-to-back possessions, Juliette Gauthier and Abby Voss delivered their first points on a 3-pointer and jumper, respectively, but the Lady Raiders would make 3-4 foul shots in the final 31 seconds of play to cut the Owls’ lead to 27-26 at halftime.
Gaye continued to light up the game, opening up the quarter with a layup and following that up with her third 3-pointer of the night to put the Owls up by five points to start the third quarter. The Lady Raiders would then pull ahead by five points with 2:51 left in the quarter, but Crystal Primm tied the game at 45 on a layup. MT’s Taylor Sutton followed that up with a 3-pointer, but Gauthier capitalized on the other end with a trey to tie the game once again. With nine seconds left on the clock Sutton sunk another 3-pointer to put the Lady Raiders ahead, 51-48.
The Lady Raiders pulled away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Owls 30-18. FAU cut the MT lead to 10 with 2:07 left thanks to a 3-pointer by Lotta Vehka-Aho, but the Owls could not pull off the comeback, falling on the road, 81-66.
Game Notes:
- Gaye tallied her third career double-double and it only took her 14 minutes of play to do so. The junior put up career highs in points with 24 and rebounds with 16 to lead all scorers
- Primm recorded her fifth career double-double, as she put up 21 points and a career-high 12 boards. The guard logged her second straight 20+ point game
- Gaye and Primm became the first players to record double-doubles in back-to-back games since Sasha Cedeño during the 2017-18 season
- With Gaye and Primm logging in 20+ points, Thursday marked the third time this season the Owls have had two players with 20 or more points in a single game
- Gauthier put up eight points and had two steals
- Glenisha Harkless charted a team’s most three assists
- Gaye also is the first player in over a year to pull down 15+ rebounds in a game, with Voss the last one to do that against Richmond during her freshman campaign
- The Owls outrebounded the Lady Raiders 48-39
With Coach Jabir:
“Although we are not very pleased and happy with the outcome, I’m really proud of the improvement we are making,” said head coach Jim Jabir. “We played a great 30 minutes and had the lead most of the game, but this is a young team that is still trying to figure out how to finish games. I was really proud of the effort and I feel like we are getting better every day.”
Up Next:
FAU finishes out the roadstand at UAB on Saturday with tipoff set at 3 p.m. Eastern. The Owls will return to Abessinio Court at RoofClaim.com arena on Thursday, Jan. 23 to face Charlotte at 7 p.m. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit fausports.com.
Owls on Social Media:
For complete coverage of FAU women’s basketball, follow us on Twitter (@FAU_WBB), Instagram (@FAU_WBB) and Facebook (Florida Atlantic Women’s Basketball).
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Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 4-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 52-28 victory over SMU in the 2019 Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visitwww.fau.edu.
