The Lady Owls celebrated a night full of milestones on Wednesday, Feb. 10, as they defeated the Ragin’ Cajuns of University of Louisiana-Lafayette 84-75 in The Burrow.
The Owls dragged early on as the Ragin’ Cajuns jumped out to a 12-5 lead four minutes into the half. However, guards Teri Stamps and Brittany Bowe caught fire, and FAU took its first lead midway through the half.
FAU never looked back.
With 5:30 left in the half, Stamps found Bowe downcourt for a fast-break layup that turned out to be Bowe’s 1,000th-career point. She became the eighth player in FAU women’s history to accomplish the feat.
Bowe, however, had other things on her mind.
“Individual accolades are always good, but it doesn’t outweigh the fact that we won,” said Bowe. “Getting the win is always sweeter.”
The Owls led 38-31 at the half, and the second half saw more impressive play from Stamps, more points from Bowe and more milestones reached. FAU controlled the tempo and scoreboard the whole half and led by as much as 13 on several occasions.
The highlight of the half came on a second-chance bucket by forward Carla Stubbs that put the Owls up 56-48 with 12 minutes to play. That bucket made Stubbs the ninth member of the Lady Owls’ 1,000-point club. Like Bowe, Stubbs was more concerned about the win, although she did admit to feeling relieved about her accomplishment.
“I wasn’t too concerned with it, ” said Stubbs. “I was really just kind of glad to get it off my shoulders once it happened.”
While the game was all FAU from about midway through the first half, the Ragin’ Cajuns did have one bright spot in forward Mercedes Johnson, who led all scorers with 39 points.
“She had about 38 too much,” joked FAU head coach Chancellor Dugan. “We really would have liked to keep the ball out of her hands as much as possible.”
FAU’s highest scorer was Stamps, who had a career-high 21 points.
The win improved the Owls to 13-11 and 9-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. FAU will now get a week off before heading down I-95 to Miami to take on rival the Golden Panthers of Florida International University on Feb. 17.
