Women’s Basketball Squares Off Against UTEP in C-USA Championship Opening Round

Wednesday, March 11

Frisco, Texas

2:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

UTEP

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Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Women’s Basketball Squares Off Against UTEP in C-USA Championship Opening Round

3/10/2020 10:54:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Florida Atlantic vs. UTEP (C-USA Championship Opening Round)
Game Details	Wednesday, March 11, 2020 \| 2:30 p.m. (Eastern) \| Frisco, Texas \| Ford Center at The Star
Game Coverage	ESPN+ \| Live Stats \| Listen (Max Ziffer on the call) Twitter: @FAU_WBB Instagram: @FAU_WBB
FAU Links	Notes \| News \| Roster \| Schedule
UTEP Links	Notes \| News \| Roster \| Schedule

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (13-16, 7-11 C-USA) will take on UTEP (15-14, 8-10 C-USA) in the opening round of the 2020 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Basketball Championships presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star. FAU will tipoff against UTEP at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Court A at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The game between the 10th-seed Owls and seventh-seed Miners will be broadcast on ESPN+.

About the Owls

FAU is riding high off a 68-50 win over Marshall in the Owls' final home game of the 2019-20 regular season
Finishing tied for eighth with Southern Miss and Marshall in the conference standings, the Owls will serve as the 10th seed at the conference tournament due to the tiebreaker
The Owls will face No. 7 UTEP in the opening round
FAU tied for most conference wins tallied in the Owls' days of belonging in C-USA with seven
The Owls are looking for their first ever win in a C-USA Tournament. The last time the Owls won a conference tournament game was in 2012 at the Sun Belt Tournament against North Texas with a 56.55 win
Crystal Primm leads the Owls with 15.1 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game and 43 steals
Juliette Gauthier follows with 11.0 points per game and adds 7.3 boards per game

Last Time Out

The Owls ended the 2019-20 regular season on a high note with a 68-50 victory over Marshall on Senior Day last Saturday
FAU outscored Marshall in each quarter, including a 20-9 third quarter
Primm went out with a bang in her final home game at FAU Arena, as she captured a near triple-double of 15 points, a career-high 18 rebounds and six assists, which matched a career best. She also surpassed 1,000 points on her career, hitting a jumper with 50 seconds remaining in the contest. Primm captured her ninth double-double of the season
Alexa Zaph followed by matching a career-high 14 points, which included a career-high four 3-pointers
All eight players who saw more than 10 minutes on the court scored
Marshall had 23 turnovers in comparison to the Owls' 13, which was tied for the least amount this season

Scouting UTEP

UTEP was projected to finish 12th in the conference in the 2019-20 C-USA Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches
The Miners are the best team in the league at forcing turnovers, leading C-USA with 576 forced this season
UTEP is led by Katarina Zec, who puts up 12.8 points per game and 5.1 rebounds per game. The senior was named to the All-Conference Second Team
Ariona Gill follows with 11.9 PPG and a team's best 8.5 RPG
Katia Gallegos leads C-USA in assists with 146 on the season (5.0 APG), most recently breaking a 15-year school record against North Texas. By also averaging 9.7 PPG and leading the team with 50 steals, Gallegos was named to the All-Freshman Team

History Against the Miners

Wednesday's game marks the 11th meeting between these two teams. The matchup will also represent the first time the two teams will meet up on a neutral site
The first meeting with UTEP was in 2014, the Owls' first year in C-USA. FAU won 98-62 at home and won the following year, 68-63 in El Paso. Since then, the Miners have won seven out of the last eight games against the Owls
The Owls fell to UTEP in the second C-USA game of the season, 96-65. Three freshman reached double digits in scoring. Zaph led the Owls with 12 points and five rebounds. Nikola Ozola and Tanyia Gordon each logged 10 points

Upcoming

With an FAU win, the Owls will face No. 2 Old Dominion Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. The Owls will be eliminated from the tournament with a loss.

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).