MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Owls (11-7, 4-5 C-USA) battled tough against the C-USA-leading No. 23 Middle Tennessee, rallying in the third quarter before ultimately falling 63-48 against the nationally-ranked Lady Raiders (17-2, 10-0 C-USA) on Thursday inside the Murphy Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Owls started out a little slow in Murfreesboro. After a Middle Tennessee 3-pointer, Janeta Rozentale connected on a layup to get the Owls on the board, 3-2. But the Lady Raiders responded to push their lead to eight through the first five minutes of play, 10-2. Rozentale scored her second bucket of the contest to make it 10-4, but the Lady Raiders tacked on eight more to push their lead to double digits with 1:54 to play in the first, 18-4. The Owls put up three free throws to close out the opening period down 22-7.
The Owls kept trying to find a way to slow down the Lady Raiders but struggled to gain ground as Middle Tennessee continued to extend its lead, holding a 35-9 advantage with 1:44 to play in the opening half. Dyllan Hanna scored on a layup and Joiya Maddox hit the Owls first 3-pointer of the night to close out the second period as the Owls outscored MT 5-3 to cut the lead down to 38-14 at the break.
FAU had a hot start coming out of the locker room. Following a Middle Tennessee layup to open the half, the Owls produced an 8-0 run, capped off by a layup from Amber Gaston to cut the deficit down to 18, 40-22, over the first four minutes of the third period. The Lady Raiders held a 20-point advantage at 44-24 with 5:19 to play in the third, before the Owls mounted another run, scoring nine unanswered points off layups from Dyllan Hanna and Janeta Rozentale, and a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer from Joiya Maddox to cut the MT lead to just 11 at 44-33 with just 2:03 to go in the third. Middle Tennessee hit a free throw, but a jumper from Maddox and an Amber Gaston layup brought the Owls back within single digits at eight, 45-37, before four free throws would push the MT lead back out to 12 entering the final period of play, 49-37.
FAU continued to battle, as an Aniya Hubbard jumper kept the Owls within 11, 54-43, with 5:06 remaining in the contest, but Middle Tennessee scored seven over the following two minutes of clock to push the Lady Raiders advantage back out to 18, 61-43. FAU closed the contest outscoring the Lady Raiders 5-2 to bring the game to its 63-48 final.
QUOTABLE
“I was really excited and encouraged by our toughness being down 24 at the half and cutting it down to just eight in the third quarter,” said head coach Jennifer Sullivan. On the defensive end, we held them to the lowest points they’ve scored all year. Our half-court defense has not been great, and tonight I thought we did a great job executing the half-court. We still just have to get the fouls cleaned up and keep teams off the line. I knew it would be a struggle to score, Middle does a really good job of that, and I just thought we gave them too many opportunities at the free throw line. So still striving to get that cleaned up and keep our turnovers down, but for the most part I was really encouraged by our half-court defense, which I thought was much better, and just trying to find ways to get better.”
NOTES AND TEAM STATS
- The Owls held Middle Tennessee to their lowest scoring game of the season, allowing just 63 points against the No. 23-ranked Lady Raiders.
- Joiya Maddox led the way for the Owls, scoring a team-high 14 points on 4-of-8 from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and a perfect 4-of-4 from the line, in addition to collecting three rebounds.
- Amber Gaston also had a good outing for the Owls, joining Joiya in double figures with 10 points, shooting 4-of-10 from the field and going 2-of-2 from the line. Amber also tied for a team-best six rebounds and added two steals and a blocked shot on the night.
- Alexa Zaph dished out a team-leading four assists.
- The Owls dominated the Lady Raiders in the third period, which has been the MT’s best period throughout the season, outscoring MT 23-11 coming out of the locker room.
- FAU also outshot MT from the field, 38.8 percent to 37 percent, and from 3-point range, 27.3 percent to 13 percent, in addition to holding a slight edge in points scored in the paint, 28-26.
UP NEXT
The Owls remain on the road as they travel a few hours north to Kentucky to take on the WKU Lady Topper on Saturday, Jan. 28 for a 3 p.m. ET tip inside E.A. Diddle Arena.
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