PHOENIX – The Florida Atlantic Owls fell in an 81-60 battle against the Grand Canyon Lopes on Thursday at Global Credit Union Arena.
The Owls fall to 7-5, and Grand Canyon moves to 10-2.
The Owls took the early lead off back-to-back threes from
Ta'Ziah Jenks and
Mya Perry to lead 6-3.
Stefanie Ingram tacked another two to push the Owls lead to five, 8-3, but Grand Canyon went on a 17-4 run to close out the first, 20-12.
The Lopes opened the second on a 5-2 run to extend their lead to 11, 25-14, at the 7:40-minute mark. Ingram hit a jumper to spark an 11-5 Owl run, including six points from
Erin Rodgers, to battle back within five, 30-25, with 3:13 to play in the opening half. However, the Owls couldn't get another shot to fall as the Lopes scored nine unanswered to close out the half, 39-25.
Grand Canyon opened the second half on a 9-2 run to extend the deficit to 21, 48-27, however back-to-back buckets from
Mya Perry brought the Owls back within 16, 48-32, with 4:35 to play in the third. The Lopes pushed their lead back to 22, 60-38, but
Kristina Godfrey hit a triple to close out the third, bringing the Owls back within 19, 60-41, with 10 to play.
The Owls tried to battle back, but just couldn't find a rally against the Lopes as the two squads traded baskets to eventually close out the 81-60 battle.
"Obviously a disappointing loss but was really proud of our team. I mean, they really battled throughout the game. There were a lot of opportunities, especially when Erin went down, for us to drop our heads and get discouraged, just especially with the short bench at the guard position. But I was just really proud of their fight and how they continued to compete. So yeah, we'll bounce back, we'll have a day to kind of recover tomorrow and get back at it on Saturday."
- Mya Perry, Stefanie Ingram, and Jada Moore led the Owls in the contest. Perry tallied a team-leading 15 points, while Ingram and Moore turned in 13 points apiece.
- The Owls outrebounded the Lopes in defensive rebounds, 19-15, as well as outscoring the lopes in fastbreak points, 10-8.
The Owls will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 21 as the Owls take on the Wright State Raiders for their GCU Christmas Classic finale. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. ET inside Global Credit Union Arena.
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