Women’s basketball: Owls go 0-2 on Arizona road trip

Prior to the season, FAU never played Arizona or Grand Canyon in its program history.

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Junior Melinda Myers (50) scored eight points in the Owls loss at Grand Canyon. Mohammed F Emran | Staff Photographer.

Brendan Feeney, Sports Editor

Florida Atlantic women’s basketball suffered from poor shooting during its two-game trip in Arizona.

The Owls (3-5) dropped their first game to the University of Arizona on Thursday. Three days later their offense was never able to get going and lost their third straight game at Grand Canyon University.

Here is a game-by-game recap of the Owls trip to Arizona.

Thursday: FAU 67, Arizona 77

Junior Sasha Cedeno opened the scoring with a 3-pointer in the Owls first possession. Cedeno, who led the team in scoring in each of the previous two games, continued her current hot streak with a 24-point, 10-rebound performance.

The junior finished the first quarter with 10 of her team’s 22 points. Arizona caught fire in the second and third quarters scoring 23 and 26 points respectively and captured a 64-59 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Owls were able to get within four points twice in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t make the necessary shots to leave Tucson with a win.

Arizona limited the Owls to 31.4 percent shooting from the field in the second half, and FAU missed all six three-point attempts after making six in the first half.

Four Wildcats scored at least 11 points, led by sophomore Taryn Griffey — daughter of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.

Sunday: FAU 60, Grand Canyon 81

Referees assessed Grand Canyon a technical foul prior to tipoff. Cedeno made one of her two foul shot attempts and then the Owls didn’t score another point in the game’s first five minutes and 49 seconds.

At that point, Grand Canyon already reached 10 points. The Owls closed within seven points at the end of the first quarter and three minutes into the second, but the Antelopes ended the half on a 17-6 run, extending their lead to 18 points and never looked back.

A pair of freshman led the Owls in scoring as both Katelyn O’Reilly and Julia Jenike finished with 11 points.

Grand Canyon senior Marina Laramie recorded a double-double with 30 points and 10 rebounds.

Brendan Feeney is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @feeney42.