FAU extended its losing streak to five with a 54-59 loss against Old Dominion, dropping the Owls to 11th in the conference.

The Owls (10-12, 4-7 C-USA) led by as much as 16 points, but were outscored 36-23 in the second half in an eventual loss.  ODU (7-19, 5-7 C-USA) took advantage of FAU’s second half shooting woes and climbed back into the game with an 8-0 run late in the third quarter.

Redshirt-senior Raven Doyle scored a season-high 18 points on 9-of-14 shooting to go along with six rebounds.

Senior guard/forward Sasha Cedeño finished with 12 points and passed Breanna Turner to become FAU’s eighth leading scorer in program history.

ODU held FAU to just 19 percent on its 27 attempts from long range.

FAU drained five three-pointers in the first half on 5-of-16 shooting, but would miss all 11 of its attempts from beyond the arc in the second half.

Redshirt-junior guard Danneal Ford broke her streak of 11 straight double-digit scoring games with an eight point performance Wednesday night.

ODU hit a layup early in the fourth quarter to gain its first lead of the game, 41-40.

Doyle scored inside and Ford followed up with a jumper that brought FAU back ahead by three early in the fourth quarter.

Two straight ODU fastbreak buckets tied the game at 46 with five minutes remaining.

Doyle scored an and-one bucket out of a timeout but missed the free throw, which gave FAU a 48-46 lead.

ODU answered with its own and-one, but unlike FAU, the free throw was converted; giving the Monarchs a one point lead with three minutes remaining.

Ford knocked down a pair of free throws but ODU then hit a three-pointer, giving the Monarchs a 54-52 lead with two minutes left.

ODU scored on a layup with a minute remaining to seal the game and put the Monarchs ahead 56-52.

Ford missed a three-pointer with 29 seconds left in FAU’s last gasp effort.

Doyle scored a quick bucket to bring the Owls within five with seconds remaining, but it was too little too late as the final buzzer rang.

FAU led by as much as 16 in the second quarter by way of strong defense and rebounding.

ODU finished the second quarter on a 8-0 run after knocking down two three-pointers in the final minute of the period.

ODU hit three shots from downtown in the third quarter to bring them within six midway through the period, 40-34.

FAU’s shooting went ice cold in the third; The Owls closed the quarter on a five minute scoring drought.

The Owls outrebounded the Monarchs 27-13 in the first half with help from junior guard Alexis Cowan.

Cowan came off the bench and energized FAU in the second quarter, quickly hauling in four rebounds (two offensive) in her first five minutes of action.

FAU lost the ball nine times in the first half, allowing ODU to score nine of its 23 first half points off turnovers.

The Monarchs paid extra defensive attention to Cedeño which opened up passes to teammates on her drives; Cedeño finished with five assists.  

Doyle scored on a putback following a missed Cowan three-pointer, giving FAU a 24-10 lead midway through the second quarter.

Cedeño was double-teamed and still found her way to the basket; hitting a layup in traffic that gave FAU a 26-12 lead late in the second quarter.

Cedeño nailed two three-pointers in the first quarter, giving her eight early points along with three rebounds and two assists. A Cedeño assist to Doyle gave the Owls a 17-6 lead late in the first quarter.

FAU held ODU to 22 percent shooting and an 0-of-4 from beyond the arc in the first quarter.

FAU played stifling defense early in the game; holding the Monarchs to only seven made shots and forcing four turnovers in the first half.

Three of the five losses during the Owls’ losing streak were by double-digits.

With only five games left on the schedule, FAU Women’s Basketball coach Jim Jabir’s team would have to finish the season strong in order to regain a favorable position in conference tournament seeding.

FAU takes a bus ride south to battle its cross-county rival Florida International in Miami on Feb. 17 at 2:00 p.m.

Wajih AlBaroudi is a contributing writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other  stories, email [email protected] or tweet @WajihAlBaroudi