FRISCO, Texas – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (10-11, 8-8 in Conference USA) will take on No.2 seed UTEP (16-7, 13-5 C-USA) tomorrow in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship. FAU is coming off a 72-66 win over UAB in the opening round of the championships, and will look to build on that momentum to advance to the semifinals.
ABOUT THE OWLS
- The Owls are winners of eight of the last 10 games
- FAU is coming off its first C-USA Tournament victory in program history after a 72-66 win over UAB in the opening round
- The No. 3-seeded Owls now post a record above .500 and will look to end the season that way to post the first winning season since 2013-14
- Head coach Jim Jabir is in his fourth season at the helm
- Iggy Allen leads the team with 22.7 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. Alexa Zaph delivers a team’s most 2.9 assists per game. Janeta Rozentale averages 8.3 rebounds per game and leads the way in blocks with 1.3 swats per game
- FAU leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game (15.3)
FAU POSTSEASON HISTORY
- FAU is now 1-6 in C-USA Tournament games
- Prior to yesterday, the Owls’ last tournament win came at the 2012 Sun Belt Tournament with a 56-55 victory against North Texas
- The Owls’ only NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2012 after FAU won the ASUN Championships in 2006. FAU went on to play LSU in the NCAA Tournament
- FAU also made a WNIT appearance in 2012, losing in the first round to USF, 76-20
HISTORY AGAINST THE BLAZERS
- UTEP leads in the series, 9-4
- The Owls and Miners split in this season’s series down in El Paso, Texas
- In the first game of the series played on Feb. 21, FAU broke UTEP’s nine-game winning streak with a 67-60 win. Allen scored 26 points and pulled down 17 rebounds, while Allie Tylka (12 points), Rita Pleskevich (11 points) and Zaph (11 points) all reach double digits in scoring
- The second game of the series the following day ended in UTEP’s favor, 92-62, as the Owls were outscored 32-9 in the third quarter. Allen tallied 15 points in the loss
- Thursday’s game marks the fourth time in the past two years both teams go head to head
- FAU is 2-3 at home, 2-5 in El Paso and 0-1 at the C-USA Tournament against the Miners
SCOUTING UTEP
- UTEP is the No. 2 seed out of the West Division after finishing the conference slate with a 13-5 record, 16-7 overall
- The Miners are the only team who played all of their C-USA scheduled games without any cancellations
- Katia Gallegos was chosen to the All-C-USA First Team after finishing the regular season averaging 14.1 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game, while dishing out 107 assists and 38 steals
- Michelle Pruitt leads the way on the boards with 6.7 boards per game
- UTEP leads the league in rebounding defense, holding opponents to 33.4 boards per game
LAST TIME OUT
- FAU took down UAB in the opening round of the tournament, 72-66, marking the school’s first postseason win since joining the league
- Allen led the game with 30 points, tallying 14 of those in the fourth quarter. She also tallied her 11th double-double of the season after pulling down 16 rebounds
- Astou Gaye recorded a season-high 17 points, while knocking down three of the Owls’ four 3-pointers
- Coach Jim Jabir earned his 500th Division I win
- FAU outrebounded UAB by +9.0
AN OWL WIN MEANS
- The first quarterfinal win in a tournament since 2012
- A chance to solidify a .500 season
- The second win over the Miners this season
UPCOMING
The winner will face the winner of East 1-seed Middle Tennessee vs. West No. 4 seed Louisiana Tech on Friday at 3 p.m. (EST).
OWLS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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