Women’s Basketball Falls to UTEP

Saturday, January 4

El Paso, Texas

3 PM

Florida Atlantic

7-6, 1-1

UTEP

9-4, 2-0

Fla. Atlantic

UTEP

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

1/4/2020 5:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

EL PASO, Texas – The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (7-6, 1-1 C-USA) dropped their road contest at UTEP (9-4, 2-0 C-USA) Saturday afternoon, 96-65. FAU saw three freshmen reach double digit scoring numbers in the contest, but the Owls were unable to match UTEP's hot shooting, as the Miners shot 52.3 percent from the field in the contest.

How It Was Decided

Saturday's tilt started out fast out the gate with UTEP jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Owls would get on a board with a jumper by Lotta Vehka-Aho and a 3-pointer by Crystal Primm, but the Miners would then go on a 9-0 run. Glenisha Harkless dug them out of the hole with a 3-pointer to make it a 20-11 game.

The Owls had a tough time finding the basket, falling into a scoring drought for over eight minutes, which began with three minutes left in the first quarter. Juliette Gauthier then capitalized on a second-chance basket with 4:15 left in the second quarter to get the Owls back on the board. FAU went on an 8-0 run in the final 40 seconds of the half that was capped off by a Nikola Ozola 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Owls went into the locker room trailing, 47-25.

In the third quarter the Owls got on a 5-0 run with a 3-pointer by Vehka-Aho and a jumper nailed by Alexa Zaph, who had seven of her 12 points in the frame. The Owls went into the final quarter trailing 70-43 and were outscored by the Miners 26-22 in the fourth to fall, 96-65.

Game Notes

Three Owl freshmen reached double digit scoring numbers
Zaph led the Owls with 12 points and pulled down five rebounds, which matched a season high
Ozola tallied 10 points and recorded two assists. The freshman was a perfect 5-5 from the charity strike
Tanyia Gordon reached double digits with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter to record 10 points and a block
Astou Gaye captured two blocks in the contest, marking the first time in her Owl career she has tallied 2+ blocks in a game
Vehka-Aho punched in nine points and recorded a team-high three assists
Gauthier tallied eight points and seven rebounds, while Primm also registered eight points, three boards and three steals. This was the second straight game Primm has delivered three steals

With Coach Jabir

"I'm super disappointed that we can't put two games together, back-to-back where we play really hard, focused and intense," said head coach Jim Jabir. "I know we are better than this, but we obviously have a long way to go."

Up Next

FAU will be back at Abessinio Court at RoofClaim.com Arena to face Rice on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. for their home conference opener. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit the main FAU Women's Basketball ticket page.

Owls on Social Media

For complete coverage of FAU women's basketball, follow us on Twitter (@FAU_WBB), Instagram (@FAU_WBB) and Facebook (Florida Atlantic Women's Basketball).