The Florida A&M University Lady Rattlers’ basketball team sent the Lady Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman College(1-4, 0-1 MEAC) home with an embarrassing 94-47 loss.
With an aggressive defense and a compelling rebound game, the Lady Rattlers (2-4, 1-0 MEAC) pulled off a 23-point lead in the first half, leading B-CC 40- 17 in the rivalry defeat.B-CC head coach Frasier Simmons mentioned that his players played “effortless and scared.”
“The kids from FAM played hard, they played exceptionally hard. When a team plays as hard as they did today, you got to come out and match their intensity. If you don’t, you’re going to get killed. And that’s what happened today,” Simmons said.Coming into the first half, the Lady Rattlers controlled the pace of the game and dominated the ball control.
Losing four games in a row to non-conference teams gave FAMU the chance to try a new offensive technique and step up their defense.
“We played some really good teams, and we learned a lot and regrouped,” said FAMU head coach Deborah Clark. “Rebounding is the key. Our defense was one of the best thus far this season.”
The Lady Rattlers showed very little difference in the second half, with an upbeat offense and a very competitive defense. The team shot at 58.3 percent in the second half.
Junior guard Q’Vaunda Curry had a double-double in Saturday’s win, after posting with 21 points and 12 rebounds.
“It feels real good and it definitely gives us a lot of momentum going into the rest of our conference play,” said Curry who suffered a minor leg injury toward the end of the second half.With four guards starting the game, Clark put a roster on the floor that created a more up-tempo game.
“We had to go with the players that are more productive. We like to run and get up and down the floor, and (with) players like Deidra Jones and Secrett (Anderson) in the post, we would be faster and it showed today that we were,” Clark said.
Sophomore guard Taniyah Dawson, who led the Rattlers with 24 points, said she has been waiting for this starting opportunity for some time now.
“We worked so hard for this – doing the necessary things in practice – and it showed today,” Dawson said. “We didn’t play down to their level. It feels really good. I worked so hard for this chance, coming in on my own time practicing, having my boyfriend rebound for me. It finally paid off; this whole summer this is all I wanted to do, and I finally got my chance.”
FAMU also benefited from a mistake-prone B-CC offense. The Rattlers racked up an easy 33 points off B-CC turnovers. “One of our goals is to be on top of the league this season, and this (game) was the first step toward that,” Clark said.
It’s only their second home game of the year, and the Lady Rattlers are not primed to take any other guest lightly.
“Were going into our next game real confident, we play really good together. There’s a lot of chemistry on this team, so this only showed us how good the team can be,” Curry said.The Lady Rattlers look to take on Edward Waters College of Jacksonville Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Gaither Gym.
“Everybody come out. Were going to try to do it again,” Curry said.