Florida Atlantic’s women’s basketball team’s losing streak continued after a 72-66 loss to Charlotte Thursday night in Boca Raton.

Both teams combined for 37 percent shooting from the field, but the 49ers turned the ball over five less times and knock down seven more free throws than the Owls.

Junior Sasha Cedeno led the Owls with 15 points, going 5-for-12 from the field.

“We just got to keep working, got to keep getting better and practice everyday,” said head coach Kellie Lewis-Jay. “I thought there were things that we did much better than we’ve done in any games.”

Within the first few minutes of the game, junior Melinda Myers picked up a rebound from the 49ers, landing the team its first points of the night. With a little over seven minutes left in the first quarter, junior Malia Kency made a three-point shot, bringing the score up.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Cedeno knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Charlotte’s lead to just one point. However, Charlotte went on an ensuing 9-0 run, extending its lead to 10 points, 31-21.

FAU, was still down by nine in the third quarter but seemed to be catching up to its opponents.

Sophomore Ra’Kyra Gabriel converted a three-point play to cut the lead, but Charlotte continued to keep its foot on the gas — while there were only three more minutes remaining in the third quarter, Charlotte was up 48-37.

Throughout the last few minutes of the third quarter, Gabriel scored back-to-back buckets and freshman Alexis Shannon added a 3-pointer, but the Owls were still down 54-46.

Cedeno opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, her fifth of the night. FAU then held Charlotte scoreless for the next three minutes between the 9:00 and 6:00 mark and used a 10-0 run to cut the lead down 67-63, but was unable to snap its losing streak.

“We need to continue to be aggressive, to get to the free-throw line but I think this group is working everyday to get better,” said Lewis-Jay.

FAU will host Old Dominion University on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m. at FAU Arena.

Bella Riccitelli is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet her @bellariccitelli.