Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Women's Basketball to Welcome West Coast Neighbor FGCU
12/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Boca Raton, Fla. -
What: Florida Gulf Coast (3-5) vs. Florida Atlantic (3-5)
When: Sunday, Dec. 11 - 2 p.m. ET
Where: FAU Arena, Boca Raton, Fla.
Coverage: FAUSports.TV,
An Owl's eye view of FAU:
The Owls are 3-1 at home and look to defend The Burrow on Sunday against Florida Gulf Coast University. The team is shooting 40.9 percent from the floor and average 6.5 3-pointers per game, which is fourth in Conference USA. FAU is no slouch on defense either as they come down with 28.3 defensive rebounds and average 41.5 each game while holding opponents to 39.2.
Last time out for the Owls: FAU (3-5) suffered an 81-60 loss to Grand Canyon University (4-3) on Sunday despite a reenergized Owl offense in the fourth quarter. FAU began the fourth quarter down 61-39 but 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. Unfortunately, it was not enough to close the gap. GCU earned 25 points off of the Owls' 23 turnovers while FAU took 17 off of the Lopes' 19. FAU shot 41.4 percent from the floor, but the Lopes outshot the Owls on the perimeter with 35 percent of their 3-pointers hitting the mark.
Whooo to watch: Freshmen Julia Jenike and Alexis Shannon both stepped up against GCU as Jenike had a career-best and team-leading 11 points and Shannon came down with a career-high six rebounds. Freshman forward Katelyn O'Reilly also had a team-high 11 points along with three boards as she went 5-for-7 on the court. O'Reilly is shooting 51.9 percent from the floor this season with 8.9 points each contest. Raven Doyle was 4-for-6 with nine points and three rebounds versus the Lopes. Doyle is averaging 10.1 points and a team-best 8.1 rebounds per game as well as shooting 49.2 percent from the court. Fellow junior Sasha Cedeno continues to lead the Owls in points per game with 12.5. Cedeno saw her first double-double of the season as she broke her career highs in both points (24) and rebounds (10) in just 26 minutes of play against Arizona.
An Owl's eye view of FGCU:
The Eagles and the Owls share a similar record as FGCU added three losses and two wins at home during the past two weeks. Despite a 29.1 3-point field goal percentage, the Eagles are coming down with 9.3 3-pointers each contest while opponents only average 4.6. FGCU is outrebounded by challengers 41.7-36. but they average 10.0 steals per game and 70.3 points to rivals' 61.8.
Most recent outing for the Eagles: Behind a strong defensive effort, FGCU downed the Siena Saints by a score of 66-42 on Friday night. The Eagles have now won two in a row and move to a 4-5 record, while the Saints slide to 2-6. FGCU held Siena to its lowest score of the season and collected almost one third of its points (21) off of 27 Saints' turnovers. As a unit, the Eagles knocked down 8-of-11 from beyond the arc, a great improvement over their 8-of-31 mark from last game.
Whooo to Watch: Junior forward Rosemarie Julien allowed just six points from the Siena Saints' lead scorer and led the Eagles with a career-high 17 points, including three triples. On the season, Julien is averaging 9.7 points per game and has nine steals. Haley Laughter returned to the Eagles lineup after sitting out four games with an injury and immediately made an impact. Defensively, Laughter picked up two steals and a career-high two blocks, while adding 11 points in just 20 minutes. The redshirt junior is hitting 50.0 percent of her shots from the floor, 46.4 percent of her threes and earning a team-leading 12.0 points/game.
Notorious long-range threat Taylor Gradinjan lead the floor with four threes for a total of 12 points in the Siena contest. Gradinjan has a field goal percentage of 39.2 with 8.9 points each game. Junior guards Erica Nelson and Jessica Cattani also pack an offensive punch averaging 10.1 and 8.0 points/game and shooting 36.7 and 42.9 percent, respectively. The Eagles' top rebounder is freshman guard Tytionia Adderly who brings down 6.5 boards/game.
Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-866-FAU-Owls or by visiting FAUSports.com. Fans can watch the game on FAUSports.TV and get live stats . Live, in-game updates will also be available on Twitter by following @FAU_WBB.
