Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
South Carolina State
Owls Fall to South Carolina State 79-78
12/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2008
Kristen Johnson converted a three-point play with four seconds to go to give South Carolina State a one-point lead over Florida Atlantic at FAU Arena on Monday. After Brittany Bowe missed a finger roll lay-up as time expired, the Lady Bulldogs escaped with a 79-78 win over the Owls.
Both teams started out hot to begin the game. However, South Carolina State went 19 of 34 in the first half. They got great production out of Sophilia Hipps, who scored 19 of her 23 points in the first half as the Lady Bulldogs led 47-38 at halftime.
FAU cut into the lead in the second half, as back to back buckets by Erica Caldwell gave FAU their first lead of the game at 59-57. Candace Lambert scored all ten of her points in the second half, and her three-pointer with under six minutes to go gave the Owls a 67-64 lead. The Owls led 78-73 with 21 seconds left after a Caldwell free-throw. That's when South Carolina State came back. Raina Chambers drove to the basket, laid the ball up and in to cut the lead to three. After a missed free-throw by Carla Stubbs, FAU chose to foul Chambers who made one of two free-throws. After the free-throw miss, FAU lost the ball out of bounds to the Lady Bulldogs that set up the late game heroics.
Hipps scored a season-high 23 points for South Carolina State (3-6). Marie Reid added 22 points and Chambers scored ten. The Lady Bulldogs made 32 of 59 shots from the field and hit seven of 16 three's.
Carla Stubbs sank a season-high 21 points for FAU (3-8) on eight-of-14 shooting. Three other players scored double figures, Jessica Knurick added 13 points and eight rebounds, Caldwell scored 13 points and Lambert added ten, FAU out rebounded South Carolina State 41-31 and shot 30 of 65 (46 percent) from the field.
The Owls return to action on New Year's Day when they face South Alabama at 12 p.m. Streaming audio of the game is available on www.fausports.com. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
