Florida Atlantic women’s basketball (12-16, 6-10 AC) fell to the Charlotte 49ers (13-15, 7-8 AC) 57-56, marking the fifth straight loss against the 49ers.
Charlotte guard Tanajah Hayes hit a game-winning three-point shot to stun the Owls in the last few seconds of the game. Guard Grace Carstensen had a chance to win the game with an attempted three-point shot, but missed.
“Hard-fought loss today,” said head coach LeAnn Freeland postgame. “I thought that our players fought extremely hard, played well together, and made the necessary adjustments throughout the game to put us in a position to win. Just disappointed that we weren’t able to execute down the stretch.”
Charlotte guard Princess Anderson led the team and the game in scoring with 20 points. For the Owls, guard Erin Rogers led the team with 12 points and eight rebounds.
After this win, Charlotte led the all-time series with an overall record of 16-5. In the last matchup on January 20, the Owls lost on the road 77-56. Hayes led the 49ers in that game with 14 points and six assists.
The Owls lost the tipoff and Charlotte forward Ja’Navia Gage quickly scored the first points of the game from underneath the basket with a bank shot. It took almost two minutes for the Owls to score their first points of the game with a wing three from Carstensen.
Gage continued to dominate underneath the basket in the first three minutes of the game and scored three times in a row for the early 6-3 lead for the 49ers.
After Rogers made two free throws, Charlotte went on a 7-0 run to take the 13-5 lead with five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Anderson and Charlotte forward Caitlin Staley were the scorers on the run.
Charlotte implemented a full-court press defense against the Owls in the first few minutes, which led to a couple of turnovers and helped the 49ers take an early lead.
Forward Vivian Onugha ended the run with a layup, but Charlotte answered with two made field goals of their own. Then, the Owls came back. After an 8-0 run to end the first quarter, the Owls managed to head to the next quarter trailing 17-15; a one-possession game.
The second quarter started with back-and-forth scoring from both teams. The Owls were able to take back the lead five minutes into the quarter after Onugha made back-to-back layups. The last time the Owls held the lead was within the first two minutes of the game, 3-2.
The rest of the half continued similarly; eventually, the Owls came on top, 30-28. Rogers led the Owls with seven points while Gage led the 49ers with nine points.
Anderson scored the first five points of the half for the 49ers to take the 33-30 lead two and a half minutes into the second half. The Owls answered right back with an 8-0 run, highlighted by two three-point shots, one from Carstensen and another from guard Jess Moors.
Staley responded with two straight baskets to help the 49ers get within one possession of the Owls. Guard Haley Walker started an 8-2 run with a corner three to put the Owls up 46-39. Then Charlotte retaliated with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 46 before going into the fourth quarter.
Carstensen and Moors scored the first four points of the fourth quarter for the Owls to take a 50-46 lead. The 49ers had a chance to score with two free throws, but Anderson missed both. The 49ers went on a three-minute and 20-second scoring drought until Anderson redeemed herself with two made free throws to get within one possession of the Owls.
With five minutes left in the game, both teams were tied at 52. Anderson scored all six points for the 49ers during this stretch. The entire fourth quarter became a defensive battle, with neither team scoring for multiple minutes.
Guard Michiyah Simmons made a layup with three minutes remaining to put the Owls up by two. For the next two-and-a-half minutes, no team could score. Hayes scored a layup with one minute remaining to end the drought and tie the game at 54.
Moors answered right back with a layup of her own to retake the lead for the Owls. The 49ers had 18 seconds to respond. Hayes went down the baseline and put up a reverse layup, but missed. However, Gage jumped up and snatched the ball for the offensive rebound.
Hayes ran to the perimeter and had a second chance, this time to take the lead. The three-point shot went up and bounced off the right side of the rim to the left and fell in. The Owls had two seconds to try and hit a game-winner, but Carstensen missed a deep three-point attempt, sealing the 49ers’ win 57-56.
“Yeah, that was bad,” Freeland said. “I should have run something that we’re familiar with, and again, that was on me. And I told the players that we got to do a better job of executing something we’re familiar with.”
Next, the Owls will play their final home game of the regular season against the Tulane University Green Wave (10-17, 5-10 AC) on Tuesday, March 3, with tipoff at 7 p.m.
Morgan Larkins is a Staff Writer for the University Press. For more information on this and other stories, email him at [email protected].
