Owls fall at Rice

Thursday, February 9

Houston, Texas

8 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

-1211,59 CUSA

Rice

-166,76 CUSA

Fla. Atlantic

Rice

2/10/2023 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

HOUSTON, Texas – Second-half woes mired the Florida Atlantic Owls (12-11, 5-9 C-USA) on Saturday, as they fell 85-64 against Rice (16-6, 7-6 C-USA) in Houston.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Owls opened the contest on an 8-0 run on layups from Jada Moore, Janeta Rozentale, and Alexa Zaph, as well as a pair of free throws from Joiya Maddox. The Owls maintained their eight-point advantage through the six-minute mark, leading 12-4. However, Rice responded over the last six minutes of the opening period, going on an 18-6 run to lead by four after the first period of play, 22-18.

Rice opened the second with a 3-pointer to kick its lead out to seven, but the Owls locked in to hold Rice to just two points over the following five minutes to bring things even at 27, capped off by a 3-pointer and layup from Zaph. FAU maintained a 32-31 advantage with 1:24 to play in the half, however Rice closed the half with three free throws to take a 34-32 advantage into the break.

Janeta Rozentale brought the Owls even once again at 36-36 at the 8:51-minute mark of the third. But Rice scored five unanswered to retake the lead 41-36. FAU struggled to find an answer to Rice throughout the third quarter as the Rice Owls outscored FAU 20-14 to kick their lead out to 11, 61-50, with 1:57 remaining in the third.

Over the first three minutes of the fourth, Rice pushed out its lead to lead to 73-53. Rice extended its to hold an 85-60 advantage with just 1:40 to play, but the Owls scored four points over the final two minutes to bring the game to its final 85-64.

NOTES AND TEAM STATS

Janeta Rozentale surpassed 500 career rebounds, placing her 10^th all-time at FAU in career boards.
Three Owls registered double digits, with Alexa Zaph leading the way with 14 points, while Janeta Rozentale scored 12 points and Joiya Maddox finished with 10 points.
Zaph shot 67 percent (6-of-9) from the floor, including going 2-of-3 from deep, and adding two boards and two assists.
Rozentale shot 75 percent from the field and added five boards and three steals.
Aniya Hubbard pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, in addition to collecting a team-best four steals and three assists.

UP NEXT

FAU will close out its two-game road trip on Saturday, Feb. 11 as the Owls visit the LA Tech Lady Techsters. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET inside Thomas Assembly Center.

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