Women’s Basketball Drops Heartbreaker Against Southern Miss

Thursday, February 13

Boca Raton, Fla.

7 PM

Florida Atlantic

10-13 (4-8CUSA)

Southern Miss

12-11 (4-7CUSA)

Southern Miss

Fla. Atlantic

2020 FAU Women's Basketball vs Central Connecticut State

Photo by: ©JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Women’s Basketball Drops Heartbreaker Against Southern Miss

2/13/2020 10:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (10-13, 4-8 C-USA) fell to Southern Miss (12-11, 4-7 C-USA) Thursday night, 71-67. The game was tied at 67 a piece with 49 seconds left in the game, but Southern Miss capitalized on a second chance opportunity for the go-ahead bucket. FAU pulled down a season-low 23 rebounds compared to Southern Miss's 44, which showed to be a critical factor in the game's decision.

How It Was Decided

The Owls began the game in dominating fashion, opening up the contest on a 7-0 run. FAU would then fall into a scoring drought for nearly four minutes, but Astou Gaye broke it with a layup. Southern Miss would then dig back into the game, going on a 6-0 run to creep up on the Owls. Despite FAU's hot start, Southern Miss made a three-pointer before the end of the first quarter and the Owls trailed 19-16 after one frame of play.

Southern Miss led by as many as seven twice in the second quarter. The Owls closed in on the Golden Eagles, going on a 6-2 run courtesy of Crystal Primm knocking down a three-pointer and two free throws and Juliette Gauthier going 2-2 from the charity strike. The Owls outscored the Golden Eagles 17-16 in the quarter, but headed to the locker room trailing 35-33

The Owls trailed by as many as eight points with 1:05 left in the third quarter, but the Owls rolled on a 7-1 run, which began with a Gaye three-pointer to put the Owls back within striking distance, 59-57. It was a high scoring third quarter, as both teams put up 24 points with Southern Miss taking a two-point advantage going into the fourth quarter.

Primm headed to the free throw line once again just 23 seconds into the fourth quarter and made down both shots to tie the game at 59. The Owls would take a three-point lead with 3:39 left in the game thanks to two more free throws and a layup by Primm. The lead went back-and-forth and then tied for the sixth time in the game thanks to a foul shot by Southern Miss's Kelsey Jones, who would have the go-ahead basket 50 seconds later. The Owls fell short of a comeback victory, falling 71-67.

Game Notes

Primm tallied her seventh 20+ point game of the season, leading all scorers with 23 points and seven rebounds. The Conference USA leader in free throws made was 10-12 from the charity strike
Gaye was the second Owl in double digits, scoring 12 points along with her four rebounds, three blocks and two steals
Gauthier was 7-8 from the free throw line, ending the night with nine points, while adding four assists for the fifth time this season
Lotta Vehka-Aho also put up nine points and added three assists despite being in foul trouble for a large portion of the game
Nikola Ozola ended the night with six points, while matching a season-high three steals
The Owls went 80.8 percent from the free throw line, going 21-26

Up Next

The Owls continue their homestand with a matchup against Louisiana Tech on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. with the game being broadcast on CUSA.TV. For tickets, call 1-866-FAU-OWLS or visit fausports.com.

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