DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Slow offensive starts in each half proved to make the difference for Bethune-Cookman women's basketball in its home opener, Sunday afternoon at Richard V. Moore Gymnasium. Despite three players scoring in double figures, the Lady Wildcats were outpaced by Florida Atlantic to an 88-61 loss.
Florida Atlantic gained the upper hand early on, taking the lead on Aaliyah Dotson's three at 19:26 in the first. After a slow start, the Lady Wildcats drew the margin to two points at 8-6 on Terrenisha Hollis' jumper at 17:38. However, the Owls outscored the Lady Wildcats 16-5 over the eight minutes of play.
“They really stalled us offensively from getting into the sets we wanted to get into,” Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis said.
Facing a 14-point deficit, Arreonté Lee sparked the Lady Wildcats' first charge, coming off the bench for two quick buckets. Although the Owls rebuilt their lead to 15, B-CU came charging back once again near the five-minute mark, using second chance opportunities and solid free throw shooting to outscore FAU 10-0 and trim the deficit to five.
Despite the momentum swing in the closing moments of the half, a set of five free throws allowed the Owls to keep separation, also scoring on an Ali Gorrell paint jumper at the buzzer to take a 44-35 lead into the break.
Through the first five minutes of the second period, FAU's offense controlled the game and built the lead back to 16, but again B-CU fought back, trimming the margin to as few as seven points. However, new-found struggles at the free throw line began to catch up to the Lady Wildcats, who went 5-for-13 from the line in the second half, and FAU pulled away for the 88-68 victory.
“It was two-fold,” Blair-Lewis said. “One, when we were able to get on a run and were able to get on the free throw line, we weren't able to capitalize. We shot 57 percent tonight from the free throw line. The second part of that is we were missing our assignments on defense. They shot a lot of threes, and when those threes weren't falling, they started to drive to the hole, and we were fouling and putting them on the free throw line.”
Showing more tenacity in attacking the basket than in the opener at Stetson, redshirt senior Terrenisha Hollis led the Lady Wildcats in scoring and on the glass, logging 18 points and seven (7) rebounds. Freshman guard Emily Williams came off the bench to tie Hollis on the boards with seven (7) of her own. Kendra Cooper sparked B-CU in the second half, finishing the night with 15 points. Lee was the third Lady Wildcat to reach double figures, putting up 12. Point guard Jasmine Knowles scored eight (8) while also dishing out a team-leading six (6) assists.
For the Owls, Morgan Robinson led five FAU players in double figures with 18 points and nine (9) rebounds.
The Lady Wildcats have a hectic schedule coming up fast, as they next take the floor in Tallahassee at Florida State on Tuesday morning at 11 a.m., then heading to Jacksonville for a meeting with JU on Thursday and rounding out the week next Sunday at East Carolina.
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