Women’s Basketball: Owls fly past Palm Beach Atlantic 61-35 in home-opener
Four Owls finished the game scoring in double digits.
Devyn Scott steals the ball from PBA’s guard on Nov. 21, 2022.
November 22, 2022
FAU women’s basketball (2-1) took down the Palm Beach Atlantic University Sailfish (1-2) 61-35 in their home-opener Monday night at the Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena in Boca Raton, Fla.
“This is a good bounce-back win for us after Miami,” said head coach Jennifer Sullivan. “We learned a lot from that game and tried to apply some of those lessons tonight, and I thought we did that.”
Redshirt junior guard Joiya Maddox got in rhythm early, sinking a three-point attempt on the game’s opening possession.
With 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter, junior guard Devyn Scott made two free-throws to leave the Owls with a 21-7 lead at the end of the quarter. FAU took advantage of the Sailfish’s aggressiveness, drawing eight trips to the free-throw line.
The Owls continued to dominate on both ends of the floor in the second quarter, taking a 31-11 lead to end the first half. A jump-shot from freshman center Dyllan Hanna with 2:48 in the second, followed by a layup from junior guard Jada Moore extended their lead to 20 heading into halftime.
Maddox led the Owls in scoring at halftime with nine points. FAU shot 25.9% from the field and 12.5% from three-point range in the first half, while holding the Sailfish to just eleven points on the defensive end.
FAU took its largest lead of the night at 34 points thanks to a 16-2 scoring run in the third quarter. Hubbard made her fifth field goal of the night on an assist from freshman guard Ajalon Gillard to put the Owls ahead 47-13.
Despite the Sailfish outscoring them 18-14 in the fourth quarter, FAU continued to shoot the ball well to maintain the large deficit. With 59 seconds left in regulation, Hubbard made a jump-shot to be the Owls’ leading scorer with 15 points, two rebounds and an assist.
Three other Owls also finished with double-digits in the scoring column: Maddox, who finished with 12, as well as Hanna and redshirt senior forward Janeta Rozentale, who both had 10.
As a team, FAU finished the game shooting 33.3% from the field and 15% from three-point range.
“[We’re] very encouraged and really excited, always feel pretty excited when you’re coming off of a win,” Sullivan said.
The Owls’ next matchup will be against the Binghamton University Bearcats in FAU’s Thanksgiving Classic on Friday, Nov. 26, at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on C-USA TV.
Cameron Priester is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @PriesterCameron
