HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (5-16, 1-9 in Conference USA) could not quite recover from a slow start at Southern Miss (14-7, 6-4 in C-USA), as the Owls fell 79-60 on the road. FAU was outscored 23-4 in the first quarter, and although FAU outscored the Lady Eagles in the second and fourth frames, it was not enough, especially after being outrebounded 46-26 in the game. Sofia Galeron led the Owls for the third straight game with a season-high 16 points, while Alexa Zaph logged 10 assists, becoming just the second player in C-USA this season to tally 10+ dimes in a game.
HOW IT WAS DECIDED
1Q
The Owls commenced the game 0-for-5 from the field until Rita Pleskevich received a nice bounce pass from Zaph under the basket to get the Owls on the board. At the media timeout, FAU trailed 9-2. FAU fell in a scoring drought for over three minutes after its first score until Amber Gaston dug the team out with a layup. The Lady Eagles outrebounded the Owls 15-6 and took advantage of FAU’s struggles connecting from the field. FAU was outscored 23-4 in the first quarter.
2Q
Southern Miss opened up the quarter outscoring FAU 8-5. The Owls were down by as many as 26 points, but closed out the half on a 10-2 run with Galeron’s five points playing a big factor in that run. FAU continued to have troubles defending the Lady Eagles’ Melyia Grayson, who ended the game with 32 points. FAU outscored the Lady Eagles 15-14 in the second quarter, but trailed behind the home team, 37-19, at the intermission.
3Q
Zaph captured her fifth assist of the game after a great feed to Gaston, as the Owls were down 41-23 two minutes into the third quarter. A Galeron 3-pointer helped the Owls come within 16 points and forced a Southern Miss timeout. The Owls’ run continued out of the break, as FAU scored six unanswered points to get within 14 while the Lady Eagles were held in a scoring drought for over three minutes. FAU then fell in a drought of their own, allowing Southern Miss to go on a 7-0 run. The Owls went on to close out the quarter on a 6-5 run, which included a Pleskevich jumper off a turnover just before the buzzer. FAU went into the final quarter of play down, 59-39.
4Q
Both teams exchanged baskets back and forth, and after two Kynadi Kuykendoll free throws, the Owls trailed 66-47 with 4:57 remaining in the game. Galeron knocked down her fourth 3-pointer, as the Owls trailed behind Southern Miss by 16 points with 2:30 left in the contest. Zaph then found an open Simona Henshaw and fed her under the basket to capture her 10th assists of the ballgame. The Owls outscored the Lady Eagles 21-20 in the fourth quarter, but dropped the game 79-60.
GAME NOTES
- Zaph captured a career-high 10 assists with just two turnovers. Her 10 assists marks the first time since 2017 when Malia Kency tallied 11 assists versus St. Francis an FAU player has logged 10+ dimes. She is also the second player in C-USA this season to have tallied that many dimes. She tallied seven points and three steals as well
- Pleskevich delivered her fifth consecutive double digit scoring game after delivering 12 points on the day
- Galeron ended the afternoon with a season-high 16 points off 6-for-10 shooting from the field and a 4-for-7 mark from beyond the arc. She logged her 12th consecutive game with a triple, which was also the 12th time this season she has delivered multiple 3-pointers
- Gaston registered eight points, five boards and two blocks
- Henshaw recorded five points off the bench, while Kuykendoll had eight points and three assists
UP NEXT
FAU is set to wrap up its road stretch at Charlotte for a Monday matchup. Tipoff is scheduled on 5 p.m. at Halton Arena. The Owls will be back at home to face WKU on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. Tickets for the game can be purchased hereor by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
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