Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Second-Place Women's Basketball Hosting Western Kentucky on Wednesday
1/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Boca Raton, FL - The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team hopes to carry its recent road success home when it hosts Western Kentucky University in a Sun Belt Conference East Division contest on Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m., at FAU Arena, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus.
The Owls find themselves in second place in the East Division with a 5-2 record after successive road victories at FIU, with a score of 50-49 on January 21, and Troy University, with a score of 66-46 on January 19. Four of the team's five victories in league action have come on the road. That success has helped improved FAU's record to 10-8 on the season.
"We're off to a good start in conference play with good intensity and aggressive play in our early road league games," said Chancellor Dugan, FAU's head women's basketball coach. "Our success on the road has put us in a good position in our division. Now, we have to defend our home court in an important home stretch during the next three weeks (playing four home games)."
Defense and rebounding have been strong virtues for this year's FAU team in SBC games. The team has held six of its seven league opponents to 58 or fewer points and out-rebounded six of those opponents.
In the victory over FIU, the Owls held the Panthers to one field goal in the final 3:35 after senior guard Teri Stamps'three-point field goal gave the team a 50-47 advantage. The FAU also had to defend a last-second shot attempt by FIU's Jerica Coley, the conference's leading scorer at 24.3 points a game. She had 21 points in the game.
"We have made the keys plays - those little things -- at the right times to pick up important victories. We need to continue to do those things against a quality Western Kentucky team this week," Dugan said.
For the season, sophomore forward Chenise Millerleads the team in scoring (10 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 rpg). The first-year Owl, after transferring from Eastern Michigan University, ranks eighth in the SBC in rebounding.
Senior forward April Goins has been a double-figures scorer in three straight games, including 10 points against FIU. She is scoring at an 8.2-point clip for the season. Sophomore guard Latavia Dempseycomes off the bench to score 8.5 points and has made 32 percent of her three-point field goal attempts.
Senior guard Teri Stamps leads the team with 24 steals, while also averaging 8.3 points per outing. Another guard, guard Takia Brooks has made 74 percent from her free throws in league play and is grabbing 5.1 rebounds a game. Senior guard DaLita Scott tallied eight points in the road victory over Troy. Sophomore guard Kimberly Smithscored 10 points and made two three-point field goals at FIU.
Western Kentucky stands 6-13 on the season and 3-4 in SBC play. The Hilltoppers are coming off a 61-50 home loss to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock on January 22. The team has dropped its last three league games, but did pick up a non-conference victory over Tennessee Tech, with a score of 71-58, on January 17. WKU is led by LaTeira Owens' 10.8 points and 7.8 rebounds a game. Keshia Mosley also is an all-around threat, averaging 9.6 points and seven rebounds per outing. The Hilltopppers will be searching for their first road victory in 10 games this winter.
Live audio and statistics of Wednesday's game can be found at www.fausports.com. For season and single-game tickets, contact the FAU Ticket Office at 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
