Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
3-4
Arizona
4-1
Women's Basketball Topped by Arizona 77-67
12/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Tucson, Ariz. -
In their first of two games out west, Florida Atlantic University women's basketball (3-4) fell 77-67 to the University of Arizona (4-1) on Thursday evening despite Sasha Cedeno's career night of 24 points and 10 rebounds.
On the Court with Coach Jay:
"We competed on the glass and came out strong in the first quarter, but we have to continue to play with that intensity for 40 minutes," said Head Women's Basketball Coach Kellie Lewis-Jay.
The Breakdown:
It was all Owls in the first quarter as FAU came out swinging outscoring Arizona 22-15 shooting 40.0 percent from the field. Sasha Cedeno led the effort going 3-for-5 overall and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc for 10 points. The junior guard was also a force on defense as she saw three rebounds along with freshman Katelyn O'Reilly who came down with four.
FAU continued to shoot well in the second quarter with 40.0 percent of their shots hitting their mark. The Wildcats answered with multiple threes as they shot 70.0 percent from the 3-point line. The Owls maintained the lead up until just two minutes remaining in the half, but freshman guard Vashnie Perry would get it back as she hit a jumper at 1:36 to secure the lead into the second half. FAU had just eight turnovers as they forced nine for the Wildcats and earned 12 points off takeaways.
The Wildcats outshot the Owls 26-20 in the third quarter as they took their first lead of the game in the fourth minute. FAU came within two at 1:59 off of points from Perry, Cedeno and Melinda Myers, but Arizona extended the lead by five, 64-59, in the last two minutes.
The Finish:
Melinda Myers had the Owls' first points of the final 10 minutes off a jumper in the paint. Alexis Shannon followed with two to bring FAU within four, which is the closest they would get to the Wildcats for the remainder of the contest. Arizona went on an 8-0 run from 6:57 until the 2:40 mark and were able to hold off the Owls until Ra'Kyra Gabriel had the last points of the game to bring the score to 77-67 in favor of the Wildcats.
"Nothing But Net" Notables:
- Cedeno saw her first double-double of the season as she broke her career highs in both points (24) and rebounds (10), which she set last week against Jacksonville State, in just 26 minutes of play. She was 4-for-8 from downtown and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
- Nika Zyryanova had the second-most points for the Owls with nine and added two assists. Freshman guard Julia Jenike also made an impact with seven points and tying her personal best with six assists along with three rebounds.
- Helping Cedeno on the boards was freshman forward O'Reilly with eight and Myers with seven. Myers also had six points as she shot 3-for-5.
- FAU had 19 points off of Arizona's 17 turnovers and had 19 second-chance points while the defense held the Wildcats to just seven. Overall the Owls were outshot 45.5 percent to 35.7 percent from the floor and 50.0-31.6 percent from the 3-point line.
What's Next:
FAU will make the drive to Phoenix where they will face Grand Canyon University on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. ET. A live audio broadcast can be found here while live stats will be available here. Fans can also follow the team on Twitter @FAU_WBB for live, in-game updates.
