In their 66-51 victory over the South Carolina State Bulldogs, the Lady Rattlers showcased a defense that would make almost any coach proud — that is, unless the coach was unfortunate enough to be on the losing end of the deal.
The Lady Bulldogs were visibly stifled on offense Saturday, as they mustered up a meager 21.3 shooting percentage from the field, going 15-of-70 for the game.
SC State only managed to find the bottom of the net once in the first seven minutes of play after seeing a medley of man to man and zone defenses from Florida A&M University.
“We did a really great job out there today on defense,” said FAMU head coach Debra Clark. “We were struggling with our offensive execution, but we made them do things they really didn’t want to do.”
Freshman forward Deidra Jones said they concentrated on defense in the practices leading to the game.
“We really forced them to take bad shots,” Jones said, as evidenced in SC State’s inability to get into any offensive rhythm.
The Lady Bulldogs shot an abysmal 25 percent from the field in the first half and an even worse 17.6 percent in the second half.
“We went with the zone in the second half,” Clark said. “It seemed to be the most effective in the first half.”
“We just couldn’t execute,” said SC State women’s head basketball coach Tonya Mackey after the game. “They did a great job of making adjustments.”
FAMU’s defensive efforts were anchored by its stingy post-defense, which habitually denied the Lady Bulldogs penetration into the lane.
The Lady Rattlers forced the Lady Bulldogs to shoot 24 3-pointers, converting on only three attempts from beyond the arc.
“Our goal was to attack the basket today, and we just couldn’t do it,” Mackey said. “We just weren’t mentally prepared. The adjustments they made were key. (Coach) Debbie (Clark) did a really good job.”
Contact Akeem Anderson at thefamuansports@hotmail.com