HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (March 5, 2020) – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (12-16, 6-11 C-USA) dropped a battle at Southern Miss (15-13, 7-10 C-USA) Thursday night by a score of 59-55. The Owls fought back from being down by as many as 12 points by outscoring the Golden Eagles 14-11 in the fourth quarter, but ultimately fell short, as Southern Miss delivered the go-ahead bucket with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game.
How It Was Decided:
The Owls jumped out to an 8-2 lead a little over halfway through the first quarter, as Astou Gaye came up a layup off a miss. FAU tallied four 3-pointers in the first quarter, including one from Juliette Gauthier with 20 seconds remaining in the frame. The Owls rode on a 16-11 lead after one quarter of play.
FAU started out the second quarter strong, rolling on an 8-4 run. The Owls fell in a scoring drought for over two minutes to allow USM to go on a 6-0 run, but Gauthier made a basket to put the Owls back on the board halfway through the quarter. Nikola Ozola and Gauthier sunk 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put the Owls up by seven points, but the Golden Eagles scored six unanswered to creep up within a point of FAU, 32-31.
The Golden Eagles continued their scoring momentum coming out of the locker room by going on a 12-0 run. FAU would then heat it up on a 6-0 run, which was capped off by an Alexa Zaph 3-pointer. Crystal Primm made a jumper with 46 seconds left in the quarter, as the Owls trailed 48-41.
Things started to go the Owls way, as FAU jumped out on a 10-0 run to pull ahead for the first time since the beginning of the third quarter after a Gaye layup. The Golden Eagles answered on the other end with a 3-pointer, but Nikola Ozola tied up the game at 53 with a layup in the paint with 1:38 remaining. Southern Miss responded again to pull up by two points and FAU took a timeout, trailing 55-53. Coming out of the timeout, Zaph made a wide open layup to tie the game at 55 points with 38 seconds remaining. Southern Miss capitalized after their timeout with a jumper and with less than seven seconds left, a Golden Eagle steal sealed the game, 59-55.
Game Notes:
- Gauthier tallied a team-high 16 points along with four rebounds, while playing all 40 minutes for the third consecutive game
- Ozola tallied a career-high 14 points, going 3-6 from beyond the arc. The freshman also logged three assists and a steal
- Zaph came off the bench capturing seven points
- Crystal Primm pulled down 10 rebounds, matched a career-high four assists and recorded six points
- Gaye came up with a career-high four steals, matched a career-high four assists pulled down six boards and put up six points
- Allie Tylka drew her first career start, logging six points, three rebounds and a block
- The Owls made 10 3-pointers, just one shy of their season-high
Up Next:
The Owls wrap up the regular season against Marshall on Saturday at 2 p.m. Senior day festivities will begin prior to tipoff at Abessinio Court at FAU Arena. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit fausports.com.
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).
– FAUSports.com –
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 4-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 52-28 victory over SMU in the 2019 Cheribundi 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, visitwww.fau.edu.
