The women’s basketball team honored its lone senior on Senior Night, which ended in a 63-46 defeat at the hands of the South Carolina State Lady Bulldogs on Monday night.
Keturah Martin, a senior guard from Memphis, Tenn., finished with two rebounds and an assist in her final home game.
The Lady Rattlers (10-16, 7-6 MEAC) came out strong, leading 7-2 four minutes into the game. However, the lead quickly vanished as the Lady Bulldogs (17-7, 9-4 MEAC) tied the game at 7 on a two-minute run.
FAMU led 26-23 going into halftime but struggled to score and defend in the second half. The Lady Bulldogs outscored the Lady Rattlers 17-0 during a seven-minute stretch to take a 46-20 lead with 12:44 remaining.
The Lady Rattlers missed their first 12 shot attempts from the field and trailed the rest of the game. They were able to cut the margin down to nine with less than four minutes left, but SCSU closed the game on an 8-0 run.
Head coach LeDawn Gibson was disappointed in her team’s performance.
“They never showed up to play,” Gibson said. “It’s very disappointing that we’re still dealing with some of the things that we dealt with in the beginning of the season, and it just shows a lack of maturity, knowledge and experience within the team.”
Kimberly Sparkman, a junior guard from Columbia, Tenn., finished tied for a team-high with 15 points. Sparkman, the record holder for 3-point field goals made in a single season, said the Lady Rattlers didn’t play their best.
“I can’t really say we were trying hard,” Sparkman said. “We didn’t come with the energy that we needed.”
Martin said this was a game the team should have won.
“It’s disappointing for us to lose on senior night,” she said.
The Lady Rattlers will travel to Virginia to play Hampton University on Saturday at 4 p.m.