Owls Host Pre-Christmas Tournament

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team (4-5) will put a wrap to the non-conference slate by hosting the FAU Pre-Christmas Tournament. Alabama A&M, Richmond and Southern Miss will be the teams in attendance for the tournament taking place Sunday, Dec. 19 to Monday, Dec. 20.

FAU Pre-Christmas Tournament Format

Game 1 (Sunday, Dec. 19) – noon

FAU (home) vs. Richmond (away)

Game 2 (Sunday, Dec. 19) - 2:30 p.m.

Southern Miss (home) vs. Alabama A&M (away)

Game 3 (Monday, Dec. 20) - noon

Southern Miss (home) vs. Richmond (away)

Game 4 (Monday, Dec. 20) - 2:30 p.m.

FAU (home) vs. Alabama A&M (away)

Sully's Statements

Using the tournament as preparation for C-USA games:
"We are really excited. I think we have two good matchups coming in, which will help us prepare for conference," said head coach Jennifer Sullivan. "Richmond is up first, [and they are] a really talented team. They are really similar to Davidson, where they will be big, physical and long. It will be a good challenge for us against bigger perimeter post players, who are good at blocking shots, and they have a good point guard in Grace Townsend. It will be great challenge for us to see what we have learned from [previous] matchups going into this weekend.

"We also play a very athletic Alabama A&M team. I'm excited about that matchup as well. Their record is 1-7, but I think they are better than their record and they have played some really good games. I think that will be a good matchup for us from the standpoint of taking care of the basketball, looking to get open and being able to finish against contact."

About the Owls

FAU women's basketball is under direction of first-year head coach Jennifer Sullivan, who is a 16-year coaching veteran and the sixth head coach in program history
The Owls are coming off a 71-63 win over Florida Memorial, FAU's third game in six days. FAU had two players in double digits and two with a double-double
The team brings back nine student-athletes from the 2020-21 squad, all of whom have seen time on a collegiate court
Amber Gaston leads the Owls with 14.7 points per game and a .617 field goal percentage, which is eighth in the nation. She has also tallied 7.3 rebounds per game
Janeta Rozentale has a team's most 9.2 rebounds per game
Kynadi Kuykendoll leads the way with 3.3 assists per game with 30 total
FAU has four Owls averaging double digits in scoring after four games (Gaston, Alexa Zaph, Rita Pleskevich and Janeta Rozentale)

Last Time Out

FAU completed three games in six days with a 71-63 win against Florida Memorial
Gaston led the way with 19 points (9-11 from the field) and 13 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. She was awarded Conference USA Player of the Week
Rozentale followed with 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds
Zaph registered 13 points, while Pleskevich tallied 11
Big on the boards, Sofia Galeron pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds
The Owls outrebounded the Lions, 60-30

Scouting Richmond and Alabama A&M

Richmond

Richmond was picked to finish seventh in the A-10 Preseason Poll, as voted by the league's head coaches
Kate Klimkiewicz was highlighted on the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference Second Team. She is currently averaging 11.8 points per game and 5.9 boards per game
Addie Budnik leads the Spiders with 15.1 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game
The leader in assists is Grace Townend with 50, averaging 5.0 per game

Alabama A&M

Alabama A&M was picked to finish fourth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, as chosen by the league's head coaches
Highlighting the Bulldogs on the SWAC Preseason Team were Dariuana Lewis as a First Team choice and Deshawna Harper as a Second Team selection
Nigeria Jones leads AAMU with 10.0 points per game, as well as a team's most 26 assists and 13 steals
Lewis pulls down a team's most 9.0 rebounds per game, while tallying 9.0 points per game
Harper logs 9.3 PPG and 3.8 RPG

Series History

Richmond

FAU and Richmond will square off for the fifth time of the series on Sunday, third time in four years
The Spiders have the 3-1 advantage in the series
FAU's first win over Richmond came in 2018, as the Owls defeated the Siders 69-55. Gaston delivered five points in seven minutes in the win as a freshman
The last matchup against Richmond came in 2019 in Virginia, resulting in a tough 57-55 loss for the Owls, as the Spiders came up with the go-ahead basket

Alabama A&M

The Owls and Bulldogs will play each other for the first time of the series on Monday

Upcoming

Following the break, FAU will commence C-USA play on the road at Charlotte on Thursday, Dec. 30 at 6 p.m. and at Old Dominion on Saturday, Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. FAU will be back home to host Marshall on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets for the game can be purchased here or by calling 1-866-FAU-OWLS.

Owls on Social Media

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

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Players Mentioned

Sofia Galeron

Amber Gaston

Kynadi Kuykendoll

Rita Pleskevich

Janeta Rozentale

Alexa Zaph

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