Old Dominion University came out of halftime soaring and used a 30-point third quarter to defeat Florida Atlantic women’s basketball 93-73 Saturday afternoon in Boca Raton.

The Monarchs (12-10, 7-4 Conference USA) outscored the Owls (4-17 ,0-10 Conference USA) by 14 in the quarter after trailing by six points at halftime. They shot 47.4 percent from the field and 60 percent from three-point territory in the period.

“We completely went away from the game plan,” head coach Kellie Lewis-Jay said on her team’s second half performance. “Getting destroyed on the boards was a huge issue for us. For everything that we did in the first half, we negated in the second. We came out [in the second half] unfocused and unready to play.”

The Owls were outrebounded 61-44, including allowing 23 offensive boards that led to 20 second chance points for the Monarchs.

The Monarchs shot 42 percent from the field in the game and held the Owls to 36 percent, including just 27 percent from three. Old Dominion also outscored the Owls 50-30 in the paint.

FAU was led by junior Sasha Cedeno’s 20 points on 8-for-20 shooting.

It was a pretty tightly contested first half, with neither team leading by more than five points. Both teams combined for 41.5 percent from the field and five turnovers.

The Owls continued to play great defense in the second period, holding the Monarchs to just 36.4 percent shooting. FAU shot 50 percent in the quarter and took a 48-42 lead in the locker room.

Freshman Alexis Shannon and Cedeno combined for 23 of the Owls first half points, the first time this season FAU had two double-digit scorers in any half. Cedeno had 11 on 4-of-8 shooting, while Shannon added 10, shooting 5-for-8 from the field.

FAU was never able to get within more than 13 points in the fourth quarter, failing to register a single point in the last 2:13 of the game.  

The nation’s second leading scorer Jennie Simms scored 22 of her game-high 41 points in the second half, shooting 17-for-32 from the field.

The Owls have now lost 10 straight games to start conference play, their second worst streak in program history, but Lewis-Jay remains calm about her team’s chances to make this year’s Conference USA tournament.

“Our focus is to get better everyday,” said Lewis-Jay. “We just have to keep getting better at the end of every day and whatever happens, happens.”

FAU will travel to take on the University of North Texas on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m.

Hans Belot Jr. is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him at @Don_Phenom_.