Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Women's Basketball Opens up Saturday Doubleheader with Louisiana-Lafayette
1/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2009
Louisiana-Lafayette (3-17, 0-9 Sun Belt) at Florida Atlantic (8-12, 5-5 Sun Belt)
FAU Arena - Boca Raton, FL
Saturday, January 31 - 5 p.m.
GAME TWENTY-ONE: The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team looks for their fifth win in six games as they face the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday, January 31 at 5 p.m.
SERIES:tied 2-2. These two teams met February 2, 2008 in Lafayette, Louisiana. Adel Lizama came off the bench to score 12 points on a career-high four three-pointers. The Owls as a team hit 12 of 24 shots from beyond the arc as FAU got their first win on the road in the Sun Belt with a 65-62 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns.
RADIO/INTERNET: Steve Bishop will call the action with streaming audio and video beginning at 4:45 p.m. on www.fausports.com.
JANUARY JINXED NO MORE: with a win, the Owls will go above .500 for the month of January, finishing the month at 6-4. The Owls have gone a combined 0-18 in the previous two seasons in the first month of the year.
STATISTICAL ANOMALY:FAU is hoping for a better shooting day on Saturday against the Ragin' Cajuns. In the last two games, the Owls shot the exact same percentage and number of shots from the field, 29 percent (17-58).
FLORIDA ATLANTIC:FAU saw their four-game winning streak come to an end with a 45-40 loss to UALR on Wednesday. The Owls struggled from the field against the Trojans, as they shot 17 of 58 from the field and, unlike Sunday's game against Arkansas State, they only got to the foul line six times, making three shots. FAU was down by as many as 11 points in the second half and down by 10 with eight minutes to go when FAU went on a 12-2 run over a five minute stretch. Teri Stamps (Milwaukee, WI/Vincent HS) hit a jumper in the paint to tie the game at 40 with two and a half minutes to go. FAU, however, would not score again as UALR connected on a game-winning three-point play to seal the victory with under a minute to go. Jessica Knurick (Commerce, MI/Walled Lake Northern HS) led the Owls with nine points.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE:The Ragin' Cajuns are still looking for their first conference win of the season after falling to Middle Tennessee 85-57 on Wednesday night. The loss dropped ULL to 3-17 and 0-9 in the conference. Alexis Green led the team in scoring with 27 points and eight rebounds on 10 of 14 shooting from the field. Green leads this young cast in scoring with 14.8 points per game, averaging 18.5 points per game in conference play. Mercedes Johnson is the other Ragin' Cajun who averages double-figures with 11.2 points per game. ULL has struggled as a team to put the ball in the basket, they're last in the conference in scoring at 54.9 points per contest and have been out rebounded in Sun Belt play by an average of 13 boards per game.
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 (8), Texas (12) ,Middle Tennessee (23) and Western Kentucky (90). The Owls boast a win over South Alabama, who was ranked 88th at the time of the victory and ULM who was ranked 98th. In conference play the Owls will face three more teams currently in the top-100, Arkansas-Little Rock (72) and return dates with MTSU and WKU.
ACROSS THE BOARD: FAU has shown statistical improvement in a number of categories during conference play. Conference Non-Conference
Points Per Game: 66.1 62.0
Field Goal %: 40.7 37.4
Free Throw %: 75.7 65.1
Three-Point %: 33.1 27.1
Assist-Turnover Ratio .85 .68
Turnover Margin +2.5 +0.5
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 8.8 points per game in conference play.
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 leads the team in scoring during the conference season at 13.1 points per game (ninth in the conference) 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, her third career double-double, 20 points and 13 assists with seven steals against FIU on Wednesday and a career-high tying 23 points in the win over ULM on Wednesday night.
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 nine 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 three games over a eighteen-game stretch. Among the noteworthy performances was and a 21 point performance against South Carolina State on December 29, and a 14 point game in a win over Arkansas State. Stubbs has also been dishing out assists at a personal-record pace. She has 47 assists, 20 more than she had all of last year.
NEXT UP FAU will go on the road to begin the month of February with a matchup against New Orleans on Wednesday, February 4 at 8 p.m. Streaming audio will be available live on www.fausports.com.
