BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women’s basketball team (5-14, 1-7 in Conference USA) is geared up for three games in five days on the road, starting with a matchup at Louisiana Tech (11-8, 3-5 in C-USA). Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern at Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, Louisiana with the game being broadcast on CUSA.TV.
ABOUT THE OWLS
- The Owls are looking to earn its second Conference USA win in as many as three games. Before Saturday’s close loss to UTSA, FAU came off a huge league win over UTEP, 54-52, which broke an eight-game losing skid
- FAU brings back eight student-athletes from the 2020-21 team, all of whom have seen time on a college court
- Amber Gaston leads the Owls with 12.2 points per game and a .523 field goal percentage
- Janeta Rozentale has a team’s most 8.6 rebounds per game
- Kynadi Kuykendoll leads the way with 3.1 assists per game (58 total)
- FAU has four Owls averaging double digits in scoring (Gaston, Rozentale, Rita Pleskevich and Alexa Zaph)
- The Owls are third in defensive rebounds per game (27.1) in C-USA
- Jennifer Sullivan is in her first season at the helm of the FAU women’s basketball program. She is a 16-year coaching veteran and the sixth head coach in program history
LAST TIME OUT
- FAU was unable to pull out two straight victories last week, falling to UTSA 49-44 on Saturday
- The Owls limited the turnovers to 10, but shot just 23.7% from the field, their worst shooting performance of the season
- Pleskevich led the Owls and the game for the second consecutive contest, earning a near double-double of 14 points and eight rebounds
- Rozentale tallied seven points and 15 boards
- The Owls held UTSA to 29.7% from the field
SCOUTING LA TECH
- The Lady Techsters were projected to finish sixth in the C-USA, as voted on by the league’s head coaches
- LA Tech is 11-8 with a 3-5 C-USA mark, which lands them at fourth in the West
- Keiunna Walker leads the Lady Techsters with 17.3 points per game and is tied for a team’s most 33 steals
- Anna Larr Roberson crashes the boards hard with 9.3 rebounds per game, the second most in the league
- Saima Bates has a team’s most 60 assists, which averages out to 3.2 per game. She is tied with Walker for the most steals on the team
- The Lady Techsters are led by Brooke Stoehr, who is in her sixth season as the head coach
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE LADY TECHSTERS
- LA Tech holds a 7-2 edge over the Owls in the all-time series
- Thursday’s game marks the 10th all-time meeting between the two squads
- The first game of the series was played in 1987, which resulted in a 71-32 defeat for FAU. The two teams did not face off once again until 2014, the Owls’ first season in C-USA
- FAU started out the series 0-6 to the Lady Techsters until 2018 when the Owls pulled out an 86-72 win. The Owls have won two out of the past three matchups
- The last time the two teams faced was in 2020, as the Owls earned the victory on a go-ahead basket and a big block on defense. Nikola Ozola, Gaston, Zaph and Allie Tylka have played against the Lady Techsters before
AN OWL WIN MEANS
- The Owls will find their way back in the winning column
- Head coach Jennifer Sullivan will earn first conference road win
- FAU will break a four-game losing skid on the road
- The Owls will earn two straight victories over the Lady Techsters
UPCOMING
FAU will continue its games on the road with a stop at Southern Miss on Saturday for a 3 p.m. Eastern tipoff. 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 here or by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
OWLS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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