The reigning AAC tournament champions came to Paradise as FAU faced off against Rice (12-10, 5-5 AAC) Saturday afternoon. The Rice Owls have had a similar season compared to last year, while FAU has struggled in conference play. In a battle of the Owls, Florida Atlantic pulled off the upset earning a major victory to start February.
First Half
Rice opened the game with an 8-2 lead. Stefani Ingram (pictured above) responded with back-to-back buckets pulling FAU within one, 8-7. At the media timeout the Rice Owls led 10-7. Florida Atlantic trailed close behind Rice thanks to a 12-point first quarter performance from Ingram. Rice led 15-14.
FAU took the lead thanks to Ta’ziah Jenks and Jada Moore buckets early in the second, Florida Atlantic 20-17. Rice evened the contest at 20. From there, the teams traded points with Rice taking a 27-25 lead. FAU then responded with a 7-0 run as Florida Atlantic gained their largest lead up until that point at 32-27. Afterwards, Rice chipped away at the deficit as at the half Florida Atlantic led 32-31.
It was the first time FAU had led at the half during AAC play this season. FAU’s 52 percent FG% was also the best first half shooting numbers for the FAU Owls in AAC play this campaign as well.
Second Half
FAU’s dominant shooting performance carried over from the first as Florida Atlantic shot 4 of 6 and 3 of 3 from beyond the arc in the first 5:22 of the third. Rice kept pace, hitting six of their first eight shots in the third. Despite their hot shooting, FAU led 45-44 at the media timeout. The remainder of the third was all Florida Atlantic as the FAU Owls ended the quarter on a 9-1 run; taking a 54-46 advantage into the fourth.
Only two minutes into the fourth, Rice pulled within three. That forced an FAU timeout, leading 54-51. Out of the timeout, FAU went on a 7-0 run as they led 61-51 with only 4:31 left in the game. Florida Atlantic gained their largest lead of the day thanks to a Maria Myklebust bank shot three, 64-51 with a little under three minutes to go. Rice responded with an 8-0 run as FAU led 64-59 with one minute remaining. Florida Atlantic’s defense held strong as FAU earned the victory 66-61.
Owls Stat Leaders
This game could go down as the “Stefani Ingram show” as she led the way in scoring and assists. Ingrams’ 25 points is a career high. Jenks (pictured above) was the other double-digit scorer with 14. On the day FAU shot a season high 53.2% from the field and went 10 of 17 from three. The Owls pulled down 36 boards with Alana Rouser claiming a team leading 12. Florida Atlantic also earned 14 assists with five coming from Ingram.
Postgame with Coach Jennifer Sullivan and Stefani Ingram
Coach Sullivan opened by saying, “Really, just proud of this group. Obviously, a win is big. We needed a win, but the way they did it, and just proud of them, staying through, battling through, during this stretch of losses. And we really continue to lean into each other, and I’m happy they got their reward”
On beating Rice, coach Sullivan shared, “Yeah it does absolutely, they won the tournament last year, to beat them right now. And again, there’s a lot of veterans back. They’re a good team, they’re going to be good down the stretch. I think it means a little bit more winning against them.”
When asked about if there was a different mindset, Ingram shared, “Nothing in particular. My teammates have been saying, be more aggressive. You know, trying to use the basketball, or taking more shots. So they were finding me early. The ball was going in.”
The Owls celebration after the victory:
Look Ahead
Florida Atlantic (10-13, 2-8 AAC) will hit the road as the Owls will take on the Wichita State Shockers (7-15, 1-8) AAC. WSU will face Tulsa on the road on Saturday. The Shockers and FAU entered Saturday on similar skids with WSU losing six straight while the Owls were at seven straight. FAU will aim to build momentum against Wichita State on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m.
