Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Florida Atlantic
FAU's Long-Range Barrage Sinks Herd, 83-73
2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Florida Atlantic made seven of its first 14 3-point attempts to build a lead that would eventually be insurmountable as the Owls defeated the Marshall women's basketball team 83-73 Saturday evening at FAU Arena.
FAU improved to 13-14 and 7-9 in Conference USA, while Marshall dropped to 16-11 and 8-8 in the league.
The Owls got 19 points apiece from Shaneese Bailey and Morgan Robinson, 16 from Kat Wright and 12 from Ali Gorrell. Gorrell also had a team-high eight rebounds, while she, Robinson and Sasha Cedeno had three assists apiece.
Marshall's Leah Scott tied a career-high with 10 field goals (on 16 attempts) en route to 25 points. Aja Sorrells added 13 points and five assists, while Chelsey Romero notched her first double-double of the season (third career) with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Marshall's Chukwuka Ezeigbo laid in a Sorrells assist a minute and a half into the game to give Marshall its only lead of the game at 5-3. After that, FAU cruised to a 34-15 lead on a Robinson 3-pointer with 6:40 left. The Herd responded, though, and chopped the margin back to nine (41-32) at the half on an Enjonae Chambers-to-Chelsey Romero connection just before the half.
FAU came out roaring again in the second half and ripped off a 14-2 run, capped by a Gorrell jumper at the 16:20 mark to push its lead back to 21 (55-34).
Marshall played tough the rest of the way, and even cut the lead back to nine (74-65) on a Sorrells jumper at the 4:10 mark. The Owls kept the Herd at bay the rest of the way, however, to bring home the victory.
The Herd held a commanding advantage on points in the paint (46-22) and fast break points (16-4). FAU had the upper hand in second chance points (18-7).
Marshall's AJ Johnson hit two 3-pointers and now had 109 for her career, moving into fifth place in the school's all-time record book, past Shay Weaver (108, 2011-13).
Marshall will host Old Dominion Thursday (6 p.m.) and Charlotte Saturday (1 p.m.) in the final two games of the team's regular season schedule.
