Florida Atlantic women’s basketball was unable to overcome a tough shooting night Thursday in Boca Raton, resulting in a 76-52 loss to Louisiana Tech University.

FAU (4-20, 0-13 Conference USA) shot 31 percent from the field the while Lady Techsters (14-11, 9-5 Conference USA) shot 45.3 percent. Freshman Julia Jenike led FAU with a career-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

After being down 6-2 in the early minutes of the game, the Owls went on a 10-0 run behind Jenike. She made three of her four free-throw attempts and had six points during the run.

The Owls finished the first quarter leading 14-12. Both teams combined for 12 turnovers in the period.

Louisiana Tech started off hot in the second quarter scoring nine quick points, including a 3-pointer from freshman Anna McLeod to push the lead to five. The Owls answered with a three of their own by Jenike to cut the deficit again.

Louisiana Tech’s Jasmine LeBlanc was the first half leading scorer with eight points. The sophomore made four of her 12 shots from the field, leading her team to a 32-21 lead at halftime.

The third quarter started slow, taking nearly two minutes for either team to score until Louisiana Tech’s sophomore Kierra Anthony made a jump shot inside the paint. The Lady Techsters then closed the quarter on a 16-2 run.

A 3-pointer from Jenike would cut the deficit down to 12, but Louisiana Tech came right back with a three-point play from Ashley Santos to push the lead back to 15. The Owls would cut the deficit to eight points, but they failed to register a field goal in the last five minutes of the game.

The Owls will look to rebound when they host the University of Southern Miss on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 5 pm.

Ryan Richman is a contributing writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @rydogg_818.