Owls Fall Short at East Carolina

Tuesday, February 17

Greenville, N.C.

6 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

12-14,6-8American

East Carolina

20-7,12-2American

Fla. Atlantic

East Carolina

2/17/2026 8:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREENVILLE, N.C. — The Florida Atlantic women's basketball team came up short against the East Carolina Pirates, 74-61, on Tuesday evening inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

The Owls fall to 12-14 on the season and 6-8 in American play, while East Carolina improves to 20-7 and 12-2 in conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Fresh off earning a spot on the American Conference Honorable Mention list, Erin Rodgers got the scoring going for the Owls with a turnaround jumper after ECU jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. East Carolina's full-court pressure gave the Owls early trouble, leading to three straight baskets for the Pirates to take an 11-4 lead, forcing an FAU timeout. Out of the timeout, ECU's press continued to cause havoc, but a Madi Gewirtz triple helped settle things for FAU, trimming the deficit to five. Despite out-rebounding the Pirates 10-to-six, 12 turnovers in the first quarter by the Owls gave ECU the 19-11 lead to finish the opening quarter.

FAU opened the second quarter, forcing multiple turnovers, but couldn't find a rhythm offensively. An 8-0 Pirates run to begin the second quarter extended the score to 27-11. Vivian Onugha gave the Owls a boost with back-to-back layups going into the media timeout. Onugha and Gewirtz helped put points on the board for the Owls out of the timeout, but FAU struggled to find an answer for ECU in the last three minutes, going into halftime trailing 42-22.

Similar to the first half, Rodgers got the Owls on the board quickly with a jumper, but it was multiple defensive stops in a row, leading to transition baskets for FAU, that led to an early ECU timeout. East Carolina responded with two scores of its own before sharpshooter Grace Carstensen connected on her first triple of the game with Gewirtz following, hitting her second three on the next offensive possession. FAU stood its ground defensively, forcing 10 straight misses by the Pirates, who went scoreless for almost three minutes of play, before heading to the final period of play with the Owls trailing 55-42.

Rodgers drew a charge and connected on a layup on the other end to get the fourth quarter started for FAU. East Carolina continued its strong efforts on the offensive glass, but Onugha and Rodgers kept producing offensively to shrink the deficit back to 11. A perfect pass by Jess Moors to Rodgers for a layup, cut the deficit to single digits with just over four minutes remaining. Gewirtz later hit her third three-pointer of the game, trimming the lead to eight with 1:45 to play. The Owls continued to battle in the final 90 seconds, but ultimately couldn't finish the comeback.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH LEANN FREELAND
"Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to prepare live for the type of pressure ECU applies in the full court, so we turned it over too much in the first half. In the second half, we got organized and executed very well. I'm proud of our players' effort and composure throughout the game."

NOTES AND TEAM STATS

For the fourth time in five games, Rodgers led all FAU scorers with 16 points.
She also recorded her first double-double of the season with 11 rebounds.
Moors led the Owls in assists with 11, a new career-high and the first Owl with double digit assists this season.
Gewirtz finished with three triples on the day.
FAU held the advantage in field goal percentage, shooting 47 percent from the field while holding ECU to 36 percent.
The Owls also led the Pirates in three-point percentage with 31 percent versus 19 percent.

GALLERY

Gallery: (2-17-2026) WBB at East Carolina

UP NEXT
The Owls will close out their two-game road stretch in Tampa, Florida, taking on the South Florida Bulls for a 7 p.m. tip on Saturday, Feb. 21, inside the Yuengling Center, and on ESPN+.

FOLLOW THE OWLS
To stay up to date with everything Florida Atlantic women's basketball, follow @FAUWBB_Hoops on X and @FAUWBB on Instagram, or like Florida Atlantic Women's Basketball on Facebook.

Florida Atlantic's 2025-26 season is sponsored by Flagler Credit Union.