Welcome back to Paradise. Florida Atlantic was host to Mercer (1-1) to open play at the Elly for the 2024-25 season. Statistically both squads were even, but the Owls three-point offense carried FAU to their first victory of the season.
First Half
Mercer opened the game with a 4-0 lead. Both offenses struggled to get anything going, but Mya Perry (pictured below, Dylan Vo) responded to the Bears by scoring five points as at the media break it was 5-4 Owls. FAU extended on their lead coming out of the break thanks to a 10-4 run to take a 15-8 lead. At the end of the quarter Florida Atlantic was ahead 15-10.
To start the second quarter, FAU’s Jada Moore sparked an 11-2 run off a jumper as the Owls gained a 26-12 lead. Mercer climbed back to cut the lead to 11 at the media break; 28-17 Owls. To close out the half FAU went 0 of 6 on FGs while Mercer was 1 of their last 8 as the half ended 28-19 in favor of Florida Atlantic.
The Owls looked great during the first half holding the Bears to a 28 FG% and 0-5 from three. FAU had a 57% clip from behind the arc with the Owls being 4 of 7.
Second Half
Three minutes into the third Mercer had cut the deficit to five thanks to a six-point run: 30-25 Florida Atlantic. The Owls gained a point to their lead thanks to Erin Rodgers’ (top picture, Dylan Vo) made free throw and layup as FAU led 33-27 at the media break. FAU earned an 11 point advantage with 2:55 left in the third after an Emaya Lewis free throw. The Owls led 41-30 with one quarter of play left.
The first half of the fourth was mostly free throws by both teams with FAU’s largest lead being 46-32. Mercer cut the lead down to nine in a final push to take the victory from the Owls. With four minutes left Florida Atlantic had a 10 point advantage: 51-41. The remainder of the contest saw the Owls and the Bears trade shots at a similar rate. FAU dribbled out the final 15 seconds and claimed victory at home over Mercer 58-48, ending a four game losing streak to the Bears.
The last victory for FAU in the series came in 2006. Since then the Owls lost four straight until today to earn victory number 15 in the series. It was also FAU’s largest win since 2000 in the two teams’ contests as well.
Perry led the way in scoring with her 18 points. Perry was also 2-2 from three. Erin Rodgers earned a team leading eight rebounds as the Owls earned 36 as a team. Stefani Ingram earned five assists with FAU garnering 11. The stat of the afternoon was from three-point land. FAU shot 7-16 from three while the Bears were only 2-16. In a contest with a 10 point deficit that was all the difference in deciding the winner.
Florida Atlantic (1-1) continues their home stand against North Florida (1-2). The Ospreys are coming off a loss against Georgia Southern before they head down to Paradise. In the contest UNF dropped 65 points but a slow start cost North Florida as they only scored three points in the first. The contest between the Owls and the Ospreys is an early one starting at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13.