BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (2-1) will play its second consecutive road game, as the Owls face North Florida (3-1) on Sunday morning. FAU is looking for its first road game win of the year, as tipoff is set for 9:30 a.m. at UNF Arena.
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- FAU women's basketball is under a new direction with first-year head coach Jennifer Sullivan, who has opened up her collegiate coaching career with a 2-1 record
- Sullivan is the sixth head coach in program history
- The Owls are coming off a 10-point loss, 56-46, at Miami. FAU held the Canes to 56 points, but were doomed with 28 turnovers
- The team brings back nine student-athletes from the 2020-21 squad, all of whom have seen time on a collegiate court
- Rita Pleskevich leads the Owls in scoring with 13.7 points per game
- Janeta Rozentale pulls down a team's most 8.7 boards per game
- Bre Beck comes off the bench at point guard to average 3.0 assists per game
- FAU has four Owls averaging double digits in scoring after three games (Amber Gaston, Pleskevich, Rozentale and Alexa Zaph)
- The Owls lead Conference USA in field goal percentage defense (.287)
- FAU was picked to finish 10th in C-USA, as voted on by the league's head coaches. The team is coming off the 2020-21 season having achieved an 11-11 (8-8 C-USA) record with eight conference wins being the most the Owls have achieved in C-USA
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- FAU lost to Miami in a defensive battle, falling 56-46 in Coral Gables
- Pleskevich led the Owls with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals
- Rozentale tallied 11 points and seven rebounds, while Gaston registered 10 points and two blocks
- The Owls held the Canes to 31.3% from the field and 16.0% from 3-point range, but were plagued by 28 turnovers
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- UNF faced a tough test in their season opener with a 78-50 loss at No. 16/24 Florida State, but has cruised on a three-game winning streak
- The Ospreys were picked to finish No. 2 in the ASUN Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches. UNF was chosen to finish third in the media poll with two first-place votes
- Jadia Bond, Jazz Bond and Marissa Mackins were tabbed to the 10-person ASUN Preseason Team
- Jazz Bond, who is the reigning ASUN Defensive Player of the Year, was chosen as the ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. She is averaging a double-double with 16.8 points per game and a team-leading 10.8 boards per contest
- Rhetta Moore leads UNF with 18.5 points per game and 4.0 assists per game
- Ally Knights has a team's most 31 assists to average out to 7.8 per game
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- FAU has a 6-2 edge in the series against the Ospreys
- The Owls are on a two-game winning streak vs. UNF, which includes a double-overtime 83-75 win in 2017
- The two squads faced one another last season, which resulted in a 93-81 win for the Owls in Boca Raton
- Allie Tylka had a career game against the Ospreys last year with 19 points off 8-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-for-7 from beyond the arc. Zaph tallied 11 points and five assists, while Rozentale logged six points and nine boards
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The Owls will return home for the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament, taking place from Nov. 26-27. FAU faces Tulsa on Friday at noon and Davidson on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for those games can be purchasedÂ
here or by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS.
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