BOCA RATON, Fla. (12/1/12) – The
Arkansas State women's basketball team couldn't hold a halftime lead as Florida
Atlantic came from behind to defeat the Red Wolves 79-71.
Arkansas State (1-6, 1-1 Sun Belt
Conference) was led in scoring by junior Jane Morrill with 17 points. Senior Quinishia McDowell and freshman Jalen
O'Bannon also reached double-digits with 11 points and 10 points respectively. Ten different A-State players scored at least
one point throughout the course of the game.
After being down at the half
35-32, FAU was able to take the lead 44-43 only four minutes into the second
half, but ASU came back to tie the game at 45-45 and 47-47 with back-to-back
baskets from Sophomore Jasmine Hunt. FAU
scored the next basket to take the lead 49-47 and didn't look back.
ASU got within three points 69-66
after a Morrill layup with 5:03 left in the game, but FAU answered with a 5-0
run to put the score at 74-66 to put the game out of reach. The Owls outscored A-State 47-36 in the
second half to put the final score at 79-71.
“Stats and film don't lie. The last two games, FAU has been a much
better team in the second half than the first,” ASU head coach Brian Boyer
said. “It showed once again today with
47 points in the second half. I thought
we competed, we played hard, and we did some good things out here, but we had
two untimely collapses, one at the end of the first half and the end of the
game.”
Arkansas State took a 35-32 lead into
halftime, following a layup from O'Bannon off a missed free throw attempt with
2 seconds left on the clock. ASU used an
8-0 run to take the lead 17-14 with 13:08 in the first half and led by as many
as five points in the first half. Senior
Andi Watson led the Red Wolves with nine first half points. FAU's Chenise Miller scored the Owls' first
11 points on her way to a game-high 29 points.
A-State dominated the rebound
battle by 43-22 margin. Sophomore Hanna
Qedan led the Red Wolves with 7 rebounds.
ASU shot 55% from the field as well, but turned the ball over 27 times.
“How do you
shoot 55%, really dominate the boards, and still lose? Well you turn it over 27 times and that's
how,” Boyer said. “We gave away too many
opportunities to score. A lot of credit
to them though, they are putting people in panic mode and they did it to us
too.”
Arkansas State returns to action Dec. 8 against Central Arkansas. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. at the
Convocation Center.
