Grice Drops 40 On Morgan State: Rattlers Win 79-61

BALTIMORE, Maryland  – FAMU’s Jasmine Grice continued to finish her collegiate career with a flourish here Monday night at Hill Fieldhouse, scoring 25 of her game-high 40 points to lead a furious second half rally which vaulted the Lady Rattlers to a 79-61 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference win over homestanding Morgan State.

Grice’s 40 point performance boosted her MEAC-leading point total to 707 in 28 games, and was complemented by nine rebounds and six steals. Taneka Rubin added 16 points, including four of nine from three-point range, while Kimberly Sparkman added 10 points.

The Lady Rattlers (15-13, 9-6 in MEAC) actually trailed, 37-31 at the half to the last place Lady Bears (4-24, 2-13 in MEAC), but turned up the heat defensively, forcing Morgan into 14 second half turnovers, while holding them to 28.6 percent floor shooting in the final 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, FAMU went from 32.5 percent floor shooting in the opening stanza to a torrid 64.5 percent showing, hitting 20 of their 31 shots in the final stanza, including a 45.5 percent shooting effort (5 of 11) from downtown.

Morgan extended their halftime lead to as much as 10 points, 47-37 on a layup by Simone Sampson with 14:59 left in the game, before FAMU went on a 12-2 run capped by a Kimberly Sparkman three-pointer with 11:49 left, to tie the game 49-49.

A Jasmine Grice jumper with 4:41 left capped a 16-5 FAMU run that extended the Lady Rattler lead to double digits, 65-54. FAMU then closed out the Lady Bears with a 14-7 flurry for the 18-point winning margin.

Danielle Robinson and Tracey Carrington led Morgan State with 18 points each, while Simone Sampson added a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

GRICE INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Jasmine Grice’s 40-point performance was the second 40-point game of her career, and came just one night and two points shy of her career high. She scored 42 points against Norfolk State on March 4, 2013…. She now stands at 707 points on the season, boosting her MEAC leading scoring average to 25.5 points per game…. It also made her the only FAMU Women’s player to score 700 points, and just the second FAMU basketball player to shatter the 700-point plateau, joining Rattler cage great Willie Collier, who scored 709 points in 21 games for FAMU in 1964-65…. The NCAA Division One leader in steals, Grice now has 107 picks, moving her up to 8^th on the FAMU Single Season Steals charts, ahead of Shelly Boston’s 104 in 1989.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Lady Rattlers will close the regular season Thursday night in the Al Lawson Center against archrival Bethune-Cookman on Senior Night at 6 p.m.

Official Basketball Box Score
Florida A&M vs Morgan State
3/3/2014 5:30 p.m. at HILL FIELD HOUSE, BALTIMORE, MD


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VISITORS: Florida A&M 15-13, 9-6 MEAC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
03 HINES,Alicia........ g  0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  1  1  0  1   9
05 GRICE,Jasmine....... g 17-29   0-4    6-7    2  7  9   1  40  0  2  0  6  40
12 KIMBERLY,Sparkman... g  4-12   2-7    0-0    0  0  0   2  10  5  2  0  3  36
23 PROTHRO,Tiera....... g  1-3    0-0    0-0    0  4  4   3   2  0  2  0  0  20
32 RUBIN,Taneka........ g  6-13   4-9    0-1    1  4  5   4  16  2  1  0  2  34
01 DAWODU,Adenike......    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  0  0  0   4
11 LACY,Andreya........    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   3   0  1  0  0  0   4
15 MCCRAY,Alicia.......    3-6    1-2    0-0    0  2  2   4   7  2  3  0  4  23
22 HARRIS,Ann Marie....    1-2    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   1   2  1  0  0  0  15
30 FOREMAN,Jamie.......    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   6
33 COLLIE,Patrice......    1-2    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   1   2  1  0  0  0   9
   TEAM................                         4  6 10
   Totals..............   33-71   7-23   6-8    8 28 36  22  79 13 11  0 16 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-40 32.5%   2nd Half: 20-31 64.5%   Game: 46.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-12 16.7%   2nd Half:  5-11 45.5%   Game: 30.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-5  60.0%   2nd Half:  3-3  100 %   Game: 75.0%    0


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HOME TEAM: Morgan State 4-24, 2-13 MEAC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 JONES,Dinah......... f  1-5    0-0    2-2    1  5  6   3   4  1  4  0  0  36
22 SAMPSON,Simone...... f  2-10   0-0    6-8    6  4 10   1  10  3  4  0  0  38
10 CARRINGTON,Tracey... g  7-15   0-1    4-8    2  6  8   4  18  1  7  1  0  36
14 FORREST,Danielle.... g  5-13   3-10   5-7    0  7  7   1  18  1  4  2  2  38
23 ROBINSON,Danielle... g  2-3    2-3    0-0    0  2  2   3   6  2  5  1  0  23
15 ADAMS,La'Quacious...    0-1    0-1    0-2    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   6
21 HARRINGTON,Ivy......    2-5    0-0    1-2    0  2  2   0   5  3  0  0  1  19
33 BURNS,Britashia.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  1  0   4
   TEAM................                         2  6  8
   Totals..............   19-52   5-15  18-29  11 32 43  14  61 11 24  5  3 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-24 45.8%   2nd Half:  8-28 28.6%   Game: 36.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-8  50.0%   2nd Half:  1-7  14.3%   Game: 33.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-20 55.0%   2nd Half:  7-9  77.8%   Game: 62.1%    5


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Officials: Norma Jones, Kevin Sparrock, Leon Haskins
Technical fouls: Florida A&M-TEAM. Morgan State-None.
Attendance: 409
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Florida A&M...................   31   48  -   79
Morgan State..................   37   24  -   61

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