Jan. 11, 2007

Final Stats

Boca Raton, FL - Florida Atlantic University outscored Middle Tennessee State in the second half of Thursday nights game, but could not overcome a sloppy first half in a 78-48 loss to the No. 21 Blue Raiders in Boca Raton.

"In the first half we didn't match Middle Tennessee's intensity and struggled from the get go", said Head Coach Chancellor Dugan. "I'm proud of this team's resilience coming out in the second and executing plays both offensively and defensively."

Brittney Crenshaw was the Owls leading scorer with 10 points and nine rebounds. Demina Anderson had another quality outing for FAU, registering eight points and eight rebounds in the post. Freshman Bianca Sellers netted eight points, while playing a solid defensive game.

Middle Tennessee came out of the gates fired up, going on a 14-3 run to start the match-up. The Owls were able to hold MTSU to 17-point advantage with eight minutes left in the frame, but reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year Chrissy Givens contributions helped give the Blue Raiders a 31 point lead going into the half.

Givens netted 19 points in the first frame off of 9-of-10 shooting from the field. MTSU shot 51.3 percent from the field in the opening half compared to the Owls 17.9 percent mark. FAU had 20 first-half turnovers.

Entering the second half Middle Tennessee used an 8-0 run to build their lead to a game high 41 points with 16:44 to go. Florida Atlantic began to execute more efficiently as the second-half wore on and cut the lead to 30 points on a Demina Anderson layup with 7:44 left. With 3:18 to play Cristal Randolph hit two free-throws to put FAU within 25 points, as the team went on a 26-12 run. MTSU closed out the game by hitting two threes and built their lead back to 31 points at the final buzzer.

The Owls held Middle Tennessee to 31.3 percent shooting in the second half and shot 52 percent from the field in the second. MTSU hit only 24 percent of their triples on the night, a season-low for the Blue Raiders. FAU outscored the Blue Raiders 32-31 in the second-half.

Chrissy Givens was held to four points in the second-half, but still finished with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds on 10-of-15 shooting. Amber Holt and Krystle Horton also finished in double-digits for Middle Tennessee with 14 and 12 points respectively. Florida Atlantic won the rebounding battle 42-40.

Florida Atlantic is back in action this Sunday, as they will take on Louisiana- Monroe at 2 p.m. at FAU Arena.