Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Florida Atlantic
4-7
Maryland Eastern Shore
6-3
Women's Basketball Outlasted by Maryland Eastern Shore
12/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Boca Raton, Fla. -
The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (4-7) fell 76-59 to Maryland Eastern Shore (6-3) in the Owls Holiday Tournament Championship Game on Saturday night.
The Finish:
After exchanging baskets back and forth in the beginning of the fourth, the Hawks went on a 7-0 run over two minutes to go up by 13. Junior guard Malia Kency saw back-to-back threes midway through the quarter, but Eastern Shore would put up nine more to the Owls four in the final 3:42 to grab the win. The Hawks shot 90.9 percent (10-of-11) from the floor to the Owls 33.3 percent (6-of-18).
The Breakdown:
The Hawks offense ran the floor well in the first quarter scoring 19 points to FAU's 12 on 47.1 percent shooting. Eastern Shore went on an 11-0 run from 6:46-3:24 to move ahead as FAU saw a 6:15 scoring drought. Junior guard Nika Zyryanova saw seven of the Owls points as she shot 3-for-4 from the court and 1-for-2 from beyond the arc.
The second quarter played out quite like the first as the Hawks connected on 7-of-18 to the Owls 5-of-17. Five different FAU players saw points in the quarter with 3-pointers coming from Raven Doyle and Julia Jenike. Despite ending the half down 37-25, FAU outrebounded Eastern Shore 14-10 in the second quarter.
The fans saw a rejuvenated Owl offense in the third as FAU came away with 20 points on 50.0 percent shooting while holding the Hawks to 12 points and 31.3 percent from the floor. Doyle added 10 to her point count going 4-for-6 with two rebounds. Melinda Myers and Katelyn O'Reilly started things off as both had makes in the first two minutes.
"Nothing But Net" Notables:
- Doyle had a team-leading 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting while adding five rebounds and one assist. This is the redshirt junior forward's fourth game with more than 10 points scored.
- Despite going down in the first quarter off a hard hit from a Hawks defender, O'Reilly came back in the second half and earned a career-high four assists to go along with four points and two boards.
- Ra'Kyra Gabriel and Jacey Bailey each had six rebounds and two points as FAU and the Hawks had a matching 39 boards apiece in the contest.
- Eastern Shore won the turnover battle with nine to the Owls 16, but each team scored 11 off takeaways. FAU won the battle of second-chance and bench points with 12 and 19, respectively.
What's Next:
After the holiday break, FAU will open conference play at Western Kentucky on Friday, Dec. 30. The Owls will then travel to Huntington, W. Va. to face Conference USA opponent Marshall on New Year's Day, Jan. 1, 2017.
