Owls' Offensive Woes Lead to Loss at GCU

Sunday, December 4

Phoenix, Ariz.

2:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

3-5

Grand Canyon

4-4

Florida Atlantic

Grand Canyon

12/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Dec. 4, 2016

Box Score

Phoenix -

Box Score (PDF)

The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (3-5) suffered an 81-60 loss to Grand Canyon University (4-3) on Sunday despite a reenergized Owl offense in the fourth quarter.

The Finish:

FAU began the fourth quarter down 61-39 as the Antelopes' offense was on fire through three. Freshman forward Katelyn O'Reilly had the Owls' first points while returners Ra'Kyra Gabriel and Nika Zyryanova gave the team renewed momentum with six and five points, respectively. The Owls held the Lopes scoreless from 4:30-1:08 as well as outrebounded (7-6) and outscored (21-20) the home team in the fourth, but it was not enough to close the gap.

The Breakdown:

The Lopes' offense dominated in the first quarter as they outscored the Owls' 18-11 shooting 56.3 percent from the field compared to 31.3 for FAU. The Owls broke their scoring drought when Sasha Cedeno came down with two at the 4:11 mark. Points from O'Reilly, Melinda Myers, Julia Jenike and Vashnie Perry would help close the gap but FAU was outrebounded 12-6 by GCU.

The second quarter was not much kinder to the Owls as the Lopes scored 21 points to their 10. Beginning at 6:35, GCU went on a 13-2 run over 3:08 as FAU saw five turnovers during that timeframe. FAU's defense picked up the pace near the end of the quarter as they held the Lopes scoreless for the final 4:53, with the exception of four free throws. Raven Doyle was a perfect 3-for-3, earning the final two points for FAU to bring the score to 39-21 at the half.

The offensive efforts were less one-sided in the third quarter as FAU came away with 18 points to GCU's 22. O'Reilly and Jenike led the charge with five points apiece, yet the Lopes dominated from the perimeter shooting 60.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Owls got into foul trouble near the end of the quarter as they sent the Lopes to the line four times, which resulted in five points.

"Nothing But Net" Notables:

Freshmen Julia Jenike and Alexis Shannon both stepped up as Jenike had a career-best and team-leading 11 points and Shannon came down with a career-high six rebounds.
O'Reilly also had a team-high 11 points along with three boards as she went 5-for-7 on the court. Raven Doyle was 4-for-6 with nine points and three rebounds.
GCU earned 25 points off of the Owls' 23 turnovers while FAU took 17 off of the Lopes' 19. FAU was outrebounded in the contest 38-32.
FAU shot 41.4 percent from the floor compared to 49.2 percent for GCU, but the Lopes outshot the Owls on the perimeter with 35 percent of their 3-pointers hitting the mark.

What's Next:

The Owls will be back home to host Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. followed by their Holiday Tournament on Dec. 16-17. FAU will remain in Boca Raton, Florida until the end of the month until they open conference play at Western Kentucky on Dec. 30.