Women's Basketball Falls to FGCU

Sunday, December 11

Boca Raton, Fla.

2:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

3-6

Florida Gulf Coast

5-5

Florida Gulf Coast

Florida Atlantic

12/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Dec. 11, 2016

Box Score

Boca Raton, Fla. -

Box Score

The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (3-6) was handed its fourth consecutive loss, 65-50, by Florida Gulf Coast University (5-5) on Sunday afternoon.

On the Court with Coach Jay:
"Offensively there is not a lot we can take away from this game that was positive," said Head Women's Basketball Coach Kellie Lewis-Jay. "I thought we had good stretches of defense, especially in the second quarter. That may have been our best defensive quarter of the year. I think the freshmen come in and they play hard. I would say effort and energy were the biggest differences between those two quarters (first and second).

The Finish:
The Eagles had a 53-39 lead as they brought their offensive momentum from the third quarter into the fourth. FAU was held scoreless until 5:29 when Ra'Kyra Gabriel saw a layup for two. FAU would only see nine more points in the quarter as FGCU would earn 12 total to ensure the win.

The Breakdown:
In the first quarter, FAU was outshot by FGCU 55.6-33.3 percent from the floor with the Eagles landing 80.0 percent of their 3-pointers. FGCU put up 28 points to the Owls' 18 as freshman Katelyn O'Reilly went 2-for-2 and two at the line for six points. Four additional Owls saw points, and the defense was led by Raven Doyle and Gabriel who each had three boards.

The Owls came out firing on all cylinders in the second quarter as they held the Eagles scoreless for the first 3:31 and outshot FGCU 40.0-25.0 percent from the floor. FAU also went 2-for-5 from beyond the arc while the Eagles were 0-for-6 with the Owls' bench capturing 11 of the team's 18 points. The Owls began to close the gap in the fifth minute as O'Reilly hit a jumper followed by a three from Zyryanova who would then tie things up 32-32 at the 4:17 mark. Each side saw another four points apiece to end the quarter 36-36.

FGCU capitalized on the Owls' turnovers and offensive slowdown in the third, scoring six off takeaways and earning 17 points to FAU's three. The Owls only points came off a Raven Doyle layup and a Jacey Bailey free throw. FAU shot just 7.7 percent while the Eagles hit 37.5 percent of their shots on the court and 50.0 percent from downtown.

"Nothing But Net" Notables:

O'Reilly had a team-leading 12 points, which ties her career high, as she went 4-for-5 from the floor and 4-for-6 at the free throw line. The freshman forward also took down four rebounds.
Fellow freshman Vashnie Perry had 10 points of her own as she shot 2-for-4 from the three-point line. The guard also set a career high with four rebounds.
Ra'Kyra Gabriel had an impressive outing on defense as she broke her career best in rebounds with 10.
Alexis Shannon and Raven Doyle contributed as well with seven boards apiece. That is a career high for Shannon who also tied her personal bests in assists with three.
FGCU held FAU to its lowest score of the season (50 points) as well as lowest score in a period (3 points). The Eagles shot 39.0 percent compared to the Owls' 28.8 while also going 40.0 percent from beyond the arc. FAU came out on top in both second chance points and bench points with 16 and 26, respectively.

What's Next:

The Owls will hold their annual Holiday Tournament on Friday, Dec 16 and Saturday, Dec. 17. FAU opens play against Jackson State on Friday at 5 p.m. followed by St. Francis versus Maryland Eastern Shore at 7:30 p.m. The winners of both games will face each other on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. while the other two teams will play earlier that day at 5 p.m.