FAU women’s basketball (10-5, 3-3 C-USA) fell to the University of North Texas Mean Green (5-11, 2-4 C-USA) in a 75-59 loss Saturday afternoon, after failing to mount a comeback in the second half.

“Disappointing loss today because of our effort on the defensive end,” said head coach Jennifer Sullivan. “No time to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to regroup and prepare for WKU on Monday.”

Despite the defeat, freshman guard Aniya Hubbard continued her streak of solid performances by scoring 14 points, shooting 66.6% from the field. Senior center Amber Gaston was the Owls’ second leading scorer as she tallied 10 points shooting 71% from the field.

FAU and North Texas traded leads early in the first half before the Owls’ first 3-pointer from senior guard Alexa Zaph, which gave the Owls’ a 9-7 lead with 5:42 remaining in the first.

The Owls opened the second quarter on a 10-4 run which left them with a 26-16 lead with 6:47 remaining in the first half.

Going into the second half, the Owls struggled carrying on the same momentum. The Mean Green managed to produce a 17-2 run to take a 48-44 lead with under a minute remaining in the third quarter.

North Texas continued to take over in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Owls 25-11 to mount the comeback.. With 3:14 left in regulation, sophomore Tommisha Lampkin drew a foul and made both free-throw attempts, which extended the Mean Green’s lead to 15 points and seemed to put the game out of reach for FAU.

The Owls will look to bounce back from the defeat as they host Western Kentucky University  Hilltoppers (7-8, 4-2 C-USA) on Monday, Jan. 16. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena and will be broadcast by C-USA TV.

Jahsheem Benjamin is a contributing writer at the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @JBenzzofficial.