Jan. 31, 2008

Box Score

The Florida Atlantic University women's basketball team fell behind by as many as 23 in the first half against New Orleans on Thursday. However, the Owls rallied and cut the lead to four points in the second half before falling to New Orleans 76-63 at FAU Arena.

The Privateers went on a 9-0 run in the first half, led by Le'Della English, who led all scorers with 26 points. New Orleans would sprint out to a 43-24 lead at the half.

In the second half, the Owls rallied. They were led by Mercedes Thompson, who had a career-high 18 points on seven of eight shooting from the field. A layup by Jaimie Givens dropped the Privateer lead to 63-59. However, that was as close as the Owls got. English, with the shot clock winding down hit a baseline jumper to put the Privateers up 67-59 and they would not look back.

"I thought we played hard, but we couldn't get a shot to fall from the perimeter," said head coach Chancellor Dugan.

New Orleans (11-10, 5-5 Sun Belt) had three players in double-figures, led by English who scored 26. Brittany Helm added 16 points, and Cookie Johnson added 13. The Privateers shot 16 of 27 from the field in the first half and outrebounded FAU 40-33.

Florida Atlantic (4-15, 0-10 SBC), also had three players in double-digits. Thompson scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half. Carla Stubbs added 13, however, she struggled from beyond the arc, going 0 for 10 on three-pointers. FAU as a team went 2-22 from beyond the arc. Jaimie Givens added 10 points for the Owls.

FAU will hit the road to face Louisiana-Lafayette. The Owls will face the Ragin' Cajuns on Saturday at 4 p.m.