Friday, March 10, 2006

DOTHAN, Ala. – Second-seeded Florida Atlantic booked a trip to the A-Sun Championship game after defeating No. 6 Mercer 70-65 in Semifinal action at the Dothan Civic Center.

Florida Atlantic advances to their third finals in school history, dropping each of the previous two.

The first half featured four lead changes and three ties as neither team could push their advantage out to double figures. The Owls entered the locker room with a five-point advantage. Mercer came rushing back after halftime, using a 7-0 run in the half’s first five minutes. Nicole Leonard’s lay-up capped the run and gave the Bears their final lead of the half. FAU quickly jumped out to another seven point lead before Mercer put together another rally. Leonard’s next basket tied the game at 40-40 five minutes later, but Florida Atlantic scored the game’s next seven points to stretch it out again. The Bears had one last rally left in them, closing to within a point after Rhonda Owens hit 1-of-2 foul shots at the 6:29 mark to draw Mercer within 50-49. FAU forced a game-changing drought by Mercer, outscoring the Bears 9-1 over the next 4:34 to take control of the contest. The Bears would only get as close as five points following a flurry of three-pointers in the final minute of the 70-65 loss.

Shontavia Williams finished with a game-high 23 points, including an A-Sun Tournament record 15 foul shots. Sharia Young added 10 points off the bench for the Owls. Sally Skeldon led the Bears with a career-high 14 points while Owen ended with 10 points and Zsaquez Flucker ripped down a career-high 12 rebounds.

The Owls will face No. 4 Gardner-Webb tomorrow with the A-Sun’s berth in the NCAA Championship on the line. The game will be televised regionally on Comcast Sports Southeast with tip-off scheduled for 1:00 pm.

General Notes
• The #2 seed advances to the Championship game for the first time since 2004.
• Florida Atlantic improves to 7-9 in Championship play all-time after today’s game, and Mercer drops to 7-20.
• From the 7:00 mark in the second half, Mercer went 0-5 from the floor with three turnovers over the next 5:50 as FAU built a nine-point lead.

Florida Atlantic Notes
• Florida Atlantic advances to the finals for the first time since 1996.
• Shontavia Williams just missed picking up her sixth double-double of the season, scoring 23 points and pulling down nine rebounds.
• Williams had a career night from the free throw line hitting 15-16 tosses, which also matches an Atlantic Sun tournament record for free throws made.
• Florida Atlantic only shot 29.8% from the field in their win this evening but made up for their poor shooting performance from the field by shooting 80% from the free throw line (32-40).

Mercer Notes
• Junior Sarah Russell did not play in this evening’s contest after sustaining a leg injury in yesterday’s quarterfinal game against East Tennessee State University.
• Zsaquez Flucker pulled down a career-high rebounds in tonight’s contest with 12.
• Junior Sally Skeldon scored a career-high 14 points in the Bears loss tonight.
• All but one Mercer player who entered tonight’s game scored, and once again, Mercer’s bench played a critical role in the game, scoring 32 of 65 points.