FAU forward April Goins (left), guard Kim Smith (center) and guard Teri Stamps celebrate the Owls' 41-40 victory vs. South Alabama on Wednesday. (Owl Access Photo)
Ice in her veins
FAU guard Kimberly Smith hits two free-throws with 11 seconds remaining to give the Owls a 41-40 victory over South Alabama on Wednesday at The Burrow.
Originally published on
2/22/2012
by
Marcus Nelson
BOCA RATON – With Florida Atlantic trailing South Alabama by one point on Wednesday, sophomore guard Kimberly Smith stepped to the free-throw line with 11 seconds remaining in the game feeling a bit nervous.
As she stepped to the line, Smith was relieved when she heard a whistle as South Alabama called a timeout to ice her at the line.
Instead of making her more nervous Smith said the extra time gave her a moment to collect her thoughts. She drained two free throws to give the Owls an important 41-40 victory vs. South Alabama at the Burrow.
“When they called that timeout, that gave me time to compose myself,” said Smith, who came into the game hitting 72 percent of her free throws. “When they fouled me and I was down there, I was ready, but the adrenaline is just going crazy. When they called the timeout, I was able to take a deep breath and just treat those free throws like it was in practice.”
The free-throws were Smith's only points of the night.
“Those two points are like 1,000 for her,” said FAU coach Chancellor Dugan. “There's no kid on this team that goes around looking at her stats or wants to know how many points she got. That's the thing about this team.”
The victory is huge for the Owls (15-11, 10-5) because it broke a second place tie with South Alabama in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division. If FAU defeats Troy on Saturday it will clinch the No. 2 position in the division and a first-round bye in the tournament.
South Alabama (16-11, 9-6) led by as many as seven points and appeared to be in position to win the game when Terri Stamps missed a shot with 16 seconds go, forcing the Owls to foul trailing 40-39.
But South Alabama's Taylor Ammons missed the front end of a one-and-one and then fouled Smith going for the rebound.
GameBrowser: FAU 41, South Alabama 40
- Instant message: “I have never seen or had very many teams play to the final horn the way these kids do. I am just so proud of this team.”
- FAU coach Chancellor Dugan
- Key stat: South Alabama was held to a season-low 40 points, also a season-low for points allowed by FAU.
- Trending: With its 15th victory, FAU clinched its first winning season since joining the Sun Belt Conference in the 2006-07 season.
- Up Next: FAU can clinch a first-round bye in the Sun Belt Conference with a victory Saturday over Troy. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. at The Burrow. The Owls can also earn the No.2 spot with a loss to Troy and a South Alabama loss at FIU.