TALLAHASSEE, Florida - The highly-anticipated matchup between the two teams tied atop the MEAC, was all that it was billed to be as the final margin was just three points. The Hampton Lady Pirates (21-4, 13-1 MEAC) defeated the Lady Rattlers of FAMU (19-7, 12-2 MEAC), 46-43, here at the Alfred Lawson Jr. Multipurpose Center and Teaching Gymnasium. FAMU's Jasmine Grice led the Rattlers with 13 points. Antonia Bennett scored only eight points, while Qiana Donald and Jamie Foreman scored seven points each. Bennett would grab 12 rebounds for the Lady Rattlers.
Hampton's Kieara Avant was the game's leading scorer with 18 points. Jericka Jenkins scored nine for the Lady Pirates. Avant would also grab 17 rebounds for Hampton.
The nip-and-tuck game would have 12 ties and 11 lead changes. The largest lead the Lady Pirates would take would be eight points at 11:08 in the second half, while the Lady Rattlers had an 11 point lead in the game.
Coach LeDawn Gibson is confident she can refocus the Lady Rattlers for Monday's game against Norfolk and Thursday's season-concluding game against Morgan State.
"We've just got to go back to what we do best. I thought our team lost a close game while not playing our best. We came in knowing we had to stop Avant, but she hurt us on the boards. She ended up with 17 rebounds and that is one of the things that hurt us the most. We didn't have a great shooting night, but we're not going to make excuses. We've got two games that we've got to win in order to put ourselves in the position we want to be in going into the conference tournament," Gibson added.
FAMU guard Kimberly Sparkman felt the Lady Rattlers just didn't make the necessary adjustments. "It doesn't feel good at all. We have to come ready to play no matter what the other team tries to do," she said.
The Lady Rattlers shot 9-of-28 (32.1 percent) from the field in the first half. In the second 6-of-35 (17.1 percent), for a game total of 15-of-63 (23.8 percent). From the three-point line, the Lady Rattlers shot 2-of-8 in the first half (25 percent) and 1-of-12 (8.3 percent), for a game total of 3-of-20 (15 percent). The Lady Rattlers shot 10-of-15 from the three-point line for the game for a 66.7 percent average.
The Pirates shot 7-of-27 from the field in the first half (25.9 percent) and 9-of-29 (31 percent) in the second half, for a game total of 28.6 percent from the field. From three-point range, the Rattlers 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) in the first half and 1-of-5 (20 percent) in the second half. From the free throw line, the Lady Pirates were 12-of-17 for the game (70.6 percent).
The defining time of the game was the start of the second half. The Lady Rattlers took a 24-21 lead into the half and built up a 27-21 lead early in the second half. The Lady Rattlers would allow the Lady Pirates to take the lead at 16:44 in the second half on a Jericka Jenkins jumper. The Lady Rattlers retook the lead at 7:24 remaining in the game on a Grice three-pointer. Hampton would battle back to tie the game at the 6:18 mark. With 3:11 remaining in the game, the Rattlers would relinquish the lead for good as Avant sunk two free throws.
COURTESY: FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
VISIT: FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY
VISIT: FAMUATHLETICS.COM
No comments:
Post a Comment