At 6’3, with agile footwork and a soft shooting touch in the lane, Kim Watson should be one of the dominant interior players in the MEAC. The fact that she is not befuddles head coach Debra Clark.
“She’ll have 20 points one night and then Monday, we’re not sure what we’re going to get,” Clark said.
Aggressive on both ends of the court, Watson played one of her best games of the season Saturday, scoring 21 points and grabbing eight rebounds in leading the Rattlerettes to a 60-53 victory over Morgan State.
By stepping up in a big way, Watson helped FAMU avoid becoming the winless Bears’ first victim of the season. Acknowledging that she “just got tired of playing lazy,” Watson menaced Morgan State on the defensive end with three emphatic blocks, sending one over the FAMU bench.
“Before the game, I said ‘we’re not going to be the ones’,” Watson said. “It wasn’t going to happen no matter what we had to do.”
After falling behind early, FAMU took the lead on a Shelcey Harp layup with 3:10 to go in the first half. The Rattlerettes never trailed again, but had trouble shaking a dogged Morgan State squad. The Bears kept the game within five points for most of the second half, overcoming 39 percent shooting and 24 turnovers to harass FAMU to the bitter end.
Morgan State head coach Gerard Garlic said he thought his team matched up well with FAMU, but admitted that Watson made the difference.
“Their post was very aggressive today. She got our team in a lot of foul trouble,” Garlic said.
Calibra Alston, the Lady Bears’ starting center, fouled out with only 6 points and 1 rebound in 28 minutes on the floor.
While the Rattlerettes’ leading scorer Phaedra Mashburn had a quiet game, chipping in with nine points on four of eight shooting, sophomore forward Harp picked up the slack, scoring 15 points and chasing down several offensive rebounds and loose balls. Harp said that FAMU didn’t underestimate the Lady Bears, even with their underwhelming record.
“We knew they were going to come out hard, since they hadn’t won a game this season,” Harp said.
His team saddled with a losing binge extending back to February 26 of last year, Garlic put an optimistic spin on Morgan State’s struggles.
“We are just basically teetering on the verge of all these wins,” Garlic said.
With the win, the Rattlerettes improved to 6-10 overall and 2-5 in MEAC play.