Florida Atlantic University Athletics
FAU Nears A-Sun Berth
3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 1, 2005
NASHVILLE, TN - Florida Atlantic University embarks on a two-game road trip, the outcome of which will determine whether it advances to next week's Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. The Lady Owls take on Lipscomb Wednesday night before facing Belmont Friday afternoon. FAU needs just one win, or a loss by Gardner-Webb, to clinch an A-Sun Tournament berth.
FAU (11-14, 9-9 A-Sun) is currently tied for sixth in the A-Sun with Stetson and is a half-game in front of eight-place Mercer. The Lady Owls are two games in front of GWU, which is in ninth.
The Lady Owls are trying to snap a two-game losing streak with their most recent outing being a 57-52 loss at Troy last Saturday. Callie Piper led FAU in the game with 12 points and 13 rebounds, both career-highs. Overall, FAU has lost four of its past five games. Shontavia Williams leads FAU overall with 14.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Lipscomb (13-12, 10-8 A-Sun) is mired in a slump of its own. The Bisons, once 7-1 in the A-Sun, have lost two straight and eight of their past 11 and are in a tie for fourth with Belmont. Courtney Boynton leads Lipscomb with 14.2ppg.
FAU trails the all-time series 3-0, which includes a 91-87 triple-overtime loss on December 2 at FAU Gymnasium.
Belmont (15-10, 10-8), on the other hand, is one of the A-Sun's hottest teams. The Bruins, who face UCF Wednesday night, have won four straight games by an average of 13 points each. The Bruins escaped FAU Gymnasium earlier in the year with a 76-75 victory on December 4.
The FAU-Lipscomb game tips Wednesday night at 9:00pm EST while Friday's match-up with Belmont is a 3:00pm EST tip.
Under head coach Chancellor Dugan, Florida Atlantic has qualified for the A-Sun Tournament each season. The only team that could threaten that five-year run is Gardner-Webb, which plays Jacksonville and Stetson this week on the road. Should FAU and GWU finish 9-11, there is still a chance FAU would get into the tournament in a tiebreaker scenario.
Fans wishing to access live audio of the Lipscomb game can go to (www.lipscombsports.com/content.asp?SID=4&CID=2252.) The Belmont game can be heard at (http://www.belmont.edu/athletics/bruinsradio.html).
