FAU women’s basketball fell 66-55 to Mercer in head coach Jim Jabir’s debut Sunday.

Mercer (2-0) got off to an early 14-9 lead before back-to-back three pointers by senior point guard Malia Kency helped put FAU on a 10-0 run to go ahead 19-14. The Owls (0-1) led for the rest of the half, taking a 30-26 lead into the break.

Mercer fought back early in the second half, scoring four straight points to tie the game at 30 apiece. Both teams would trade baskets back and forth late into the third quarter until a jumper by point guard Kahlia Lawrence with 3:53 to go in the third quarter gave the Bears a 40-39 lead. The Bears would keep that lead eventually ending the game on a 29-15 run.   

The Owls shot just 34 percent from the field while committing 24 turnovers. Mercer capitalized on those FAU turnover, scoring 33 of their 66 points off them.

FAU could only score five points off of the Bears 13 turnovers.

Mercer was led by Lawrence, who scored 17 points on 50 percent shooting along with forward Amanda Thompson, who posted a double-double scoring 10 points along with grabbing 10 rebounds.

FAU’s redshirt-junior point guard Danneal Ford led all players with 20 points, a career high. She also contributed five rebounds and four assists.

Junior forward Ra’Kyra Gabriel had her first career double-double, posting 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The Owls have now lost 20 straight regular season games dating back to last season. FAU travels to Colorado for their first road game on Nov. 15 at 9 p.m.

Matt Brown is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @mattyb407.