Florida Atlantic women’s basketball (9-11, 3-5 American) faced off against the University of South Florida (12-9, 5-3 American) on Saturday at the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena, escaping with the win, 64-63. The Owls were extremely shorthanded, as they only had seven active players during the entire game.
“I’m really proud of them and happy that we were able to pull off the victory today against a very good South Florida team with only seven active players,” said head coach LeAnn Freeman.
Last season, FAU played USF twice under the guidance of previous head coach Jennifer Sullivan. The Owls lost both games last season, 59-85 and 62-74.
This was the 21st game between the Owls and Bulls, with the Owls holding an 8-12 record since 1984. The last time FAU won at home was in 2001, under former head coach Chancellor Dugan, 101-87.
FAU guard Jess Moors scored a career-high number of points, with 21 throughout the game.
“It’s just super exciting, I think we get so much energy from each other,” said Moors. “Just having my teammates out there, it feels really good.”
Florida Atlantic won the tip-off off and during their first possession, USF’s Edyn Battle fouled FAU’s Grace Carstensen, resulting in a free throw that gave FAU their first point of the game. Less than a minute later, USF and former FAU guard Stefanie Ingram responded to the free throw with a jumper.
After two and a half minutes with no scoring, Carstensen made a three-pointer off a fast break following a missed three by USF’s Carla Brito.
USF then got ahead with four free throws due to personal fouls, bringing the score to 8-4. FAU responded with a layup by Madi Gewirtz. FAU ended the quarter with two free throws, one by Carstensen and one by Haley Walker, and brought the final score of the first quarter to 12-9, which put them in the lead going into the second quarter.
There was a lot of back-and-forth between the teams during the second quarter, with FAU leading 25-24 going into the second half.
“We are undersized, and I think we lost a bit of focus,” Freeman said. “South Florida knew they needed those possessions to get themselves back into the game; they were fighting a little bit harder.”
The third quarter started off hot with the Owls scoring a three, the Bulls scored two free throws and the Owls made a layup, bringing the score up to 29-27 within the first minute.
After a three-minute scoring drought for USF, they came back with a layup by Davidson, only for Walker to respond with a layup about 30 seconds later, starting a scoring run that extended the Owls’ lead to 40-29.
FAU went on another scoring run with two three-pointers and two free throws by Moors, ending the third with a 48-34 lead.
The Owls and Bulls went back and forth between layups and free throws for the first few minutes of the fourth, cutting FAU’s lead to six. USF then went on a 7-1 run, taking the lead with 33 seconds to go.
FAU’s Erin Rodgers closed out the game with two game-winning free throws, bringing the final score to 64-63.
“I’m just extremely excited for our players,” said head coach LeAnn Freeman, “they’ve gone through a lot recently and they just bonded together and made a decision to play for each other today.”
The FAU Women’s Basketball team will play again on Tuesday, Jan. 27, against the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes at the Reynolds Center, with tipoff set for 2 p.m.
Rayne Welser is a Contributing Writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email her at [email protected] or DM her on Instagram @_morgan.ray.
