BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball (2-1) rolled to a 26-point win over Palm Beach Atlantic (1-1, 0-1 SSC) on Monday evening inside Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.
“[We’re] very encouraged and really excited, always feel pretty excited when you’re coming off of a win,” expressed head coach Jennifer Sullivan. “This is a good bounce-back win for us after Miami. We learned a lot from that game and tried to apply some of those lessons tonight, and I thought we did that. This weekend is big for us, we told the players that after the game tonight. This will be a good opportunity for us to strive to get two wins at home in our Thanksgiving tournament. So, really excited about where we are mentally and physically going into the weekend.”
Four Owls scored double-figures in the win, led by Aniya Hubbard with a season-high 15 points, while adding two boards, an assist, and a steal. Joiya Maddox scored 12 points, while Janeta Rozentale and Dyllan Hanna scored 10 points each for the Owls. Rozentale recorded her second double-double of the young season, adding a game-high 10 rebounds to her 10-point performance, in addition to dishing out a season-high four assists.
The Owls opened the contest on an 8-2 run to take a six-point advantage through the first four minutes of play. FAU then connected on 13-straight free throws, outscoring PBA 13-5 through the end of the opening frame to lead 21-7 after one.
FAU continued their free-throw streak to open the second, as Janeta Rozentale connected on another pair of free throws to push the Owl lead to 16, 23-7. A Sailfish layup kept the Owl lead at 16, 25-9, with 6:48 to play, but a dominate defensive performance from the Owls kept the Sailfish to only four points in the quarter as FAU outscored PBA 6-2, capped by a fastbreak jumper from Jada Moore over the final six minutes of the opening half to send the Owls into the locker room up by 20, 31-11.
The Owls continued to flex their muscles offensively and defensively to open the third quarter. Joiya Maddox pushed her tally to 12 points with a layup eight seconds into the third, which sparked 12 unanswered points for the Owls to put FAU in front by 32, 43-11 at the 7:28-minute mark. FAU extended its lead to 34, 47-13, off a jumper from Aniya Hubbard, but a Sailfish 3-pointer and a free throw closed out the period as the Owls took a 30-point lead into the final 10 minutes of play, 47-17.
The Owls continued to lead 58-25 with four minutes remaining in the contest. PBA went on a 10-3 run to close out the contest, but it was just too little too late as the Owls claimed the 61-35 win.
NOTES AND TEAM STATS
- Four Owls posted double-digit performances in the win
- Aniya Hubbard led FAU in the contest, scoring a season-high 15 points, the most by an Owl this season
- Joiya Maddox finished with a team second-best 12 points, while Dyllan Hanna and Janeta Rozentale finished with 10 points each
- Rozentale posted her second double-double of the season, tallying 10 points and 10 rebounds against the Sailfish
- The Owls had their best game of the season so far at the free-throw line, knocking down a season-best 22 free throws, shooting 88 percent from the charity stripe
- FAU recorded a season-high 50 rebounds, in addition to collecting a season-best nine steals
- The Owls played efficiently in the second half, shooting 40.66 percent from the field, including a 42.86 percent clip in the third stanza
- The Owls dominated in the paint, outscoring the Sailfish 30-16 down low
UP NEXT
The Owls continue their six-game homestand next weekend as FAU hosts its 2022 Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25-26, beginning with the Binghamton Bearcats on Friday at 4 p.m. inside Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.
FOLLOW THE OWLS
For updates, follow @FAUWBB on Twitter and Instagram, or like FAU Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
