Women's Basketball Falls Short Against Mercer :: Halvorsen sets career mark in loss.

Jan. 14, 2002

BOCA RATON, FL - Kristy Halvorsen and Tamica Pierce each had double-doubles for Florida Atlantic University, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Owls fell to visiting Mercer University, 73-70, Monday night in Boca Raton. Halvorsen had a career-high 23 points in the loss while Jo Jo Carter led Mercer with 14 points. The loss drops FAU to 6-9 overall and 4-3 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Halvorsen also finished with 11 rebounds while Pierce, who entered the game leading the A-Sun in scoring, poured in 18 points to go along with 13 rebounds.

Despite outshooting and outrebounding Mercer (5-7, 2-3 A-Sun), FAU was plagued by turnovers. The Lady Owls committed 19 in the first half and 13 in the second half.

"Anytime you lose on your home court, you're disappointed," said FAU head coach Chancellor Dugan. "We had 32 turnovers that came against limited pressure. We just made bad passes at bad times."

Despite problems holding onto the ball, FAU was able to build 10-point leads in both the first half and second half. Leading 38-35 at the break, FAU outscored the Bears 8-1 to start the second half and led 36-26 with 19:20 to play.

However, as was the case all night long, Mercer came back to eventually tie the game at 44 with 14:03 left. A free throw by Carter with 7:55 left in the game gave Mercer its first lead at 55-54. Neither team would lead by more than four points the rest of the way.

Trailing 68-65 with 1:50 remaining, FAU's Crystal Boyland sank a three-pointer to tie the game. DeeAnna Hanscom and Pierce each followed with 1-for-2 trips to the free throw line to give FAU a 70-68 lead with 51 seconds left. Mercer's Gemma Collins hit a three-pointer 17 seconds later to give the Bears a 71-70 lead. Trailing by two points, FAU's chance to respond ended in their 32nd turnover of the night with three seconds remaining.

For the game, the Lady Owls outshot Mercer 43 percent to 40 percent while owning a 41-39 advantage on the boards. Halvorsen's double-double also included three blocks and five steals.

Jo Shaw had 12 points for Mercer while Mia Washington chipped in 11. April Dyer led Mercer on the boards with 10 rebounds.

Florida Atlantic next hosts Belmont January 19 at 3:00pm.