KALAMAZOO, Mich. – (Nov. 24, 2019) – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (4-2) won another thriller on the road, this time at Western Michigan (2-2) on Sunday afternoon. The Owls trailed by one point with 23 seconds left in the game, but Crystal Primm knocked down two game-winning free throws to elevate the Owls to a 80-79 victory.
How It Was Decided:
It was a back-to-back affair to open up the game. At the media timeout taken at 4:04, the Owls trailed 13-9, with Astou Gaye coming up with five of those points. The Broncos stretched their lead out to seven with two minutes remaining in the quarter, but an Alexa Zaph free throw cut WMU’s lead to three at the end of the frame, 23-20.
WMU stretched their lead back up to seven a little over halfway through the quarter, but FAU would not go away, tying the game after an Amber Gaston layup and free throw, 33-33. Just before halftime, Juliette Gauthier cut the lead to two head to the locker room trailing, 40-38. Gaston was unstoppable in the paint by coming up with two critical offense rebounds and tallying 11 points in the second half.
Lotta Vehka-Aho scored the Owls’ first points out of the locker room, coming up with a nice look from beyond the arc. The freshman would then capitalize in the paint with a layup off a Broncos turnover to pull the Owls up by one point. The Broncos would then go on a 9-0 run midway through the quarter, but just prior to the end of the frame, Gaston put up a second-chance layup, and the Owls trailed 62-54.
Nikola Ozola opened up the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and followed that with a layup after a nice drive in the paint to cut the Broncos’ lead to five with 8:37 remaining. Tanyia Gordon hit a basket from downtown and on the next possession, Zaph executed a layup on her own miss to tie the game at 64 with 7:11 left. The Owls would extend their lead to five off free throws by Crystal Primm, but the Broncos wouldn’t let up. The last two minutes of the game was back-to-back once again, which started with the Broncos taking the lead off a second-chance three. On the other end of the court, Ozola put in both free throws to put the Owls back up, 75-74. The Broncos hit another 3-pointer, but Gaston punched in a layup in the paint with no defenders in sight to put the Owls within one point. On the other end of the court, Primm stripped the ball out of a Broncos hands, while getting fouled in the process. The graduate student knocked down both free throws, and the Owls retook the lead 80-79 with 13 seconds left. With the Broncos taking the ball on their end of the court, WMU forced a shot up and Primm came up with a critical rebound and went back to the line. Although Primm missed both shots, she came up with a rebound on her own miss to ice the game and send the Owls out of Kalamazoo with a 80-79 win.
Game Notes
- FAU is on a three-game winning streak, their most consecutive wins since the 2017-18 season when they won four home games in a row
- This marks the Owls’ second come-from-behind victory of the season
- Gaston had a breakout game, leading the Owls with a season-high 19 points. The sophomore also came up with six critical boards
- Primm followed with 13 points and 10 boards to capture her third double-double in just six games
- Gaye was the third Owl in double-digits, tallying 12 points, two rebounds and two assists in just 14 minutes played. This marks the junior’s first double-digit game as an Owl
- Zaph had another stellar game off the bench, punching in eight points along with four rebounds and assists, apiece
- Ozola had her breakout game, capturing career-highs in points and assists with seven in both categories. Her seven assists led the Owls
- Vehka-Aho continued to be dominate with seven points, as well as two rebounds and assists, apiece
With Coach Jabir:
“’I was concerned about their legs coming off the game two days ago and then traveling here,” said head coach Jim Jabir. “But we found a way to be resilient. I’m proud of them.”
Up Next:
Next up for the Owls is a matchup against Loyola Maryland on Friday at 2 p.m. as part of the annual FAU Thanksgiving Tournament. For tickets, call 1-800-FAU-OWLS or visit the main FAU Women’s Basketball ticket page.
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 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry 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, visit www.fau.edu.
