SAN ANTONIO – Florida Atlantic women’s basketball (12-14, 5-12 C-USA) fell 77-61 against the UTSA Roadrunners (9-18, 7-11 C-USA) on Thursday evening at the Convocation Center in San Antonio.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Amber Gaston got the Owls started with a layup to bring the Owls within one after a UTSA 3-pointer, 3-2. UTSA produced a 7-2 run to take a six-point lead at 10-4 at the 7:26-mark of the first, but jumpers from Aniya Hubbard and Devyn Scott, and a Dyllan Hanna layup closed the gap as the Owls scored six unanswered to tie things up at 10-10 with 4:51 to play in the first. But UTSA outscored the Owls over the final five minutes of the opening period as the Roadrunners took a 3-point lead into the second, 15-12.
Aniya Hubbard opened the second with a layup at the 9:04-mark to bring the Owls back within one, 15-14, but a 6-0 UTSA run pushed deficit to 11, 25-14. Joiya Maddox knocked down a 3-pointer for the Owls to make it 25-17, however the Roadrunners closed the half scoring 10 unanswered as the Owls couldn’t get anything to fall to head into the break with FAU trailing 35-17.
UTSA opened the third on a 15-8 run to extend the Owls’ deficit to 25 at 50-25 with 5:21 to play in the third. However, FAU answered back scoring nine unanswered through the 1:05-mark of the third to cut the deficit down to 16, 50-34. The teams traded free throws over the final minute of the period to head into the fourth at 55-39 UTSA.
The Owls opened the fourth on an 11-4 run, capped off by a jumper from Joiya Maddox, to bring the Owls’ deficit back down to single digits at 59-50. However, that was a close as the Owls would get. The Roadrunners closed the game outscoring the Owls 18-11 over the final six minutes of play to bring the game to its final 77-61.
QUOTES FROM COACH SULLY
“Proud of our fight coming back and continuing to battle. Just the second quarter was tough for us, we got down big and had to dig our way out of the hole. Frustrating loss but we will have to regroup for a short turnaround on Saturday against a good UTEP team.”
NOTES AND TEAM STATS
- Three Owls scored double figures against the Roadrunners
- Aniya Hubbard led the way for the Owls with her fifth 20-plus point game of the season
- Hubbard shot 62 percent (8-of-13) from the field and 33 percent (1-of-3) from 3-point range, while also pulling down five rebounds
- Amber Gaston and Joiya Maddox also registered double figures with 13 points apiece
- Gaston shot 100 percent (5-of-5) from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line, while also registering two rebounds, a block, and a steal
- Maddox shot 36 percent (4-of-11) from the field and 67 percent (4-of-6) from the charity stripe, in addition to collecting six rebounds, two assists, and two steals
- Jada Moore collected a team-high seven rebounds
- FAU outscored UTSA 36-26 in the paint, 14-7 off second chance opportunities, and 19-10 in production off the bench
- The Owls outscored the Roadrunners 22-20 in the third quarter
UP NEXT
The Owls will close out their 2022-23 road slate on Saturday as they visit the UTEP Miners for a 1 p.m. tipoff inside the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.
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