MEAC Tournament: Savannah State Women's Basketball Breezes Into MEAC Semifinals

NORFOLK, Virginia  -- The Lady Tigers made history again on Thursday.

In the school's third appearance at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament, the 2013-14 Lady Tigers are the first team to make it to the semifinals of the tournament.

The No. 5 seeded Lady Tigers eased past No. 4 Florida A&M and the 2014 MEAC Player of the Year, Jasmine Grice, with an 84-75 rout in the quarterfinals of the 2014 MEAC Tournament.

"Everything we do now is history," Coach Baker said in a press conference after the game. "We've (the program) never been here. So every game is important."

The SSU men's basketball program has been knocked out the tournament the last two years in the quarterfinals. Today was the Lady Tigers first quarterfinal game.

The Lady Tigers are slated to take on the No.1 Hampton Lady Pirates on Friday at 12 p.m. in the semifinals. In the bottom bracket, North Carolina A&T State play Coppin State. The winner of each game will play in the finals on Saturday for the MEAC crown.

Thirty minutes prior to the game, the Lady Tigers made clear how hungry they were for the historic win. While the FAMU players watched the game prior from inside the tunnel, SSU warmed up in the hallway, awaiting their chance, getting focused. It showed from the tipoff.

Out of the gate SSU took control with a 14-5 run in the opening seven minutes. The Lady Tigers never gave up their lead, going up by as much as 20 points.

SSU junior Jasmine Norman led the field with a career and season-high 22 points. Junior point guard Bria Dorsey tacked on 17 points, while Ezinne Kalu scored 15 and Jasmine Kirkland added 12.

Grice led the MEAC in scoring this season, averaging 25.4 points a game. The Lady Tiger defense held her to only 14 points. Taneka Rubin led the Lady Rattlers with 19 points.

Kalu sparked the Lady Tigers offense, scoring the game's first four points. Dorsey tacked on four and freshman Tiyonda Davis added two in the Lady Tigers big opening run.

Norman sank a jumper with 4:44 to play in the opening half to give the Lady Tigers their first double-digit lead, 26-15.

FAMU replied with a 10-3 run, capped with back-to-back 3-pointers from Rubin to cut SSU's lead to 29-25 with 1:54 till the half.

Norman scored back-to-back field goals, and Rhianna Warren tacked on a jumper to get SSU back to a double-digit lead, 35-25 with 35 seconds to play.

In the final seconds, Grice scored and Norman responded with a last second jump shot to send SSU to the locker room with a 37-27 lead.

SSU opened the second half with a 13-4 run. Norman scored with 17:28 on the clock to lift SSU to a 50-31 lead. Moments later, Kirkland sank a jump shot to give the Lady Tigers their largest lead of the game, 54-34.

After trailing by double-digits for most of the half, FAMU opened a 6-2 run to get under a 10-point spread, 56-65, with 8:06 to play. SSU jumped back out quickly with a 9-1 run in the subsequent three minutes.

It was all SSU down the stretch. Florida A&M played the foul game late, to their dismay. Dorsey and Norman combined to go 4-for-4 from the charity strip in the final minutes.

The Lady Tigers shot 50.0 percent from the field and outrebounded FAMU 43-35. SSU shot 66.7 percent from the free-throw line. The Lady Rattlers shot 39.1 percent from the field and 78.3 percent from the charity strip.

Box Score

2014 WBB MEAC Bracket (Day 4)

COURTESY SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION