Florida Atlantic University Athletics
FAU Goes For Three Game Win Streak Against ULM
1/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2009
ULM (11-7, 4-3 Sun Belt) at Florida Atlantic (6-11, 3-4 Sun Belt)
FAU Arena - Boca Raton, FL
Wednesday, January 21- 7 p.m.
GAME EIGHTEEN: The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team looks for their first three game winning streak since joining the conference. The Owls face ULM at FAU Arena on Wednesday January 21 at 7 p.m.
SERIES: ULM leads 2-0. These two teams have met once at each other's venue. The Warhawks won the first meeting at FAU Arena 76-72 on January 14, 2007. Last year, ULM was led by LaJeanna Howard's 17 points. Despite 14 points from Carla Stubbs, the Owls 37 turnovers were too much to overcome as the Warhawks defeated FAU 66-44.
RADIO/INTERNET: Steve Bishop will call the action with live streaming audio beginning at 6:45 p.m. on www.fausports.com.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC:FAU won its second game in a row on Saturday on the road in North Texas. Down by two in the final seconds, Brittany Bowe (Ocala/Trinity Catholic HS) found Breana Turner (New Orleans, LA/De La Salle HS) underneath the basket for a lay-in and the foul with 2.5 seconds left. Turner converted the game-winning free-throw to give FAU a 70-69 win. Four players scored double-digits for the Owls on Saturday as FAU shot 50 percent (23-46) from the field and 83 percent (20-24) from the foul line. Jessica Knurick (Commerce, MI/Walled Lake Northern HS) poured in a career-high 16 points and Turner scored 12 points. Carla Stubbs (Miami/Jackson HS) scored 11 points and tossed a career-high tying five assists.
ULM: ULM is now 11-7 and 4-3 in the Sun Belt after snapping their two-game losing streak with a 70-42 win over Troy on Sunday afternoon. The Warhawks held the Trojans to under 30 percent from the field, the fifth opponent to shoot under 30 percent against ULM. Guard Lottie Moore led the Warhawks with 19 points on Sunday. Moore leads ULM in scoring overall with 11.8 points per game and leads in assists with 4.4 assists per game. Sannisha Williams picked up her third double-double of the season, scoring 13 points and 13 rebounds. She leads the team in rebounding at 5.8 boards per game.
RAMPING IT UP IN SUN BELT PLAY: FAU has greatly increased its scoring output in conference play. The Owls average 70.1 points per contest in the Sun Belt, which is up from 62 points per game out of conference. Four players average double-figures in conference play, led by Carla Stubbs and Brittany Bowe, who average 13.4 and 13.3 points respectively.
TURNER CLASSIC: Freshman Breana Turner turned in one of the best performances by a freshman in school history against Middle Tennessee on January 7. Turner poured in 26 points, a career-high and the most points scored by any FAU player since Mistoria Brown scored 33 points against North Texas on January 20, 2007. It's also the most points scored by a freshman since Chantale Jones scored 26 against Boston University on December 6, 1998. Turner followed that performance with a 16 point effort against WKU on January 11. She averages 11.4 points per game in conference play.
OWLS PLAY STRONG SCHEDULE:FAU played some of the top teams in the country in non-conference play. FAU has faced four teams in the RPI-top 100, according to realtimerpi.com Baylor (10), Texas (11) ,Middle Tennessee (25) and Western Kentucky (84) . The Owls boast a win over South Alabama, who was ranked 88th at the time of the victory. In conference play the Owls will face two more teams currently in the top-100, Arkansas-Little Rock (77) and ULM (98) Going back to the Texas game on November 30, the last ten opponents boast a combined record of 109-96 as of the beginning of this week.
WINNING IN THE SUNSHINE STATE: With the win on January 14 over FIU, the Owls have now gone 3-0 against teams from the state of Florida. Earlier in the year, the Owls defeated UCF on the road and Bethune-Cookman at FAU Arena. The Owls only other in-state battle this season is the second meeting with the Golden Panthers in Miami on February 28.
BOWE EMERGES IN SUN BELT PLAY: Since the Bahamas Sunshine Shootout, Bowe has emerged as one of the main options on offense. She's second on the team in scoring during the conference season at 12.4 points per game and second in rebounding at just over five boards per contest. Her performance was highlighted by a 21 point performance against WKU on January 11 and her third career double-double, 20 points and 13 assists with seven steals against FIU on Wednesday.
KEEPING IT CLOSE: Though FAU would like to come away with a few more victories, the Owls have played in a number of tight games this season. The Owls have played in eight games that were decided by seven points or less this year. That's compared to six games that were decided by the same margin all of 2007-08. That total does not include the 76-66 overtime loss to Denver that was close through the final minutes of regulation.
STUBBS SCORING AND DISHING Since being re-inserted in the starting lineup against UCF on November 22, Carla Stubbs has returned to the form that led to her being named All-Sun Belt Third Team last season. Since being inserted in the lineup, Stubbs has scored double-digits in all but two games over a twelve-game stretch. Among the noteworthy performances was a 12 point, nine rebound game in the win over Bethune-Cookman November 25, and a 21 point performance. Stubbs has also been dishing out assists at a personal record pace. She has 45 assists, 18 more than she had all of last year.
NEXT UP FAU will hit the road to face Arkansas State on Sunday, January 25 at 1 p.m. The game can be seen on CSS for Comcast subscribers (Channel 32 Palm Beach County market, Channel 63 in the Miami/Dade County market, Channel 41 in Broward County).
