Correction, Jan. 11, 2023: This story has been updated to correct a misspelling of “Sofia Galeron” in the original article.

FAU women’s basketball (9-4, 2-2 C-USA) fell short against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 49ers (7-7, 3-2 C-USA) in a 77-67 defeat Saturday afternoon.

The Owls didn’t look like the same team in the second half which resulted in their third loss in their last four games.

 “For us, the game came down to defense and we could not string together stops in the second half,” said head coach Jennifer Sullivan. 

Despite the loss, freshman guard Aniya Hubbard continued her dominant season with another standout performance Saturday afternoon. Hubbard finished with a career-high 26 points shooting 60% (12-of-20) from the field. Senior center Amber Gaston finished the game with a noticeable statline as well, tallying 18 points and 5 rebounds.

Graduate forward Sofia Galeron dominated the boards all night as she finished with a game-high 10 rebounds, and added on five points.

After falling into an eight-point deficit after the first quarter, FAU came alive in the second, outscoring Charlotte 24-9 to take a seven-point lead at halftime. 

The 49ers, however, rallied back in the second half to take a 53-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Owls’ attempt at a late comeback fell short as the 49ers strung together a 10-2 scoring run to open the fourth quarter. Minutes later, the 49ers took their largest lead of the night at 10 points and effectively sealed the victory as Jacee Busick drew a foul and made both free throw attempts.

“I was proud of our second quarter push on both sides of the ball, but we have to put two halves together,” said Sullivan. 

The Owls will continue their road trip on Thursday, Jan. 12, as they take on their rival Florida International University Panthers (8-5, 3-1 C-USA) inside the Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Miami, Fla. The game is scheduled for 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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