The Lady Rattlers basketball team suffered its first home loss Monday night against the Stetson University Hatters 101-66.
Head coach LeDawn Gibson was dissatisfied with the effort during the game.
“We just did not show up,” Gibson said. “That was not my team that I am used to coaching. I don’t know if some of it was fatigue, but sometimes you have to be mentally tough and play through stuff.”
Sloppy play was a big factor in the loss as the Lady Rattlers (5-3) committed more than 30 turnovers.
They came out flat, only hitting a pair of free throws in the first four minutes of the game as the Hatters (4-3) went on a 13-2 run.
The Lady Rattlers found a little rhythm when graduate guard Jasmine Grice and senior guard Kimberly Sparkman hit a couple of 3-pointers.
But they trailed by 24 going into halftime and were unable to recover.
There were some bright spots for the Lady Rattlers, such as Grice leading the way with a team-high 24 points. Sparkman contributed 13 points and a team-high four assists.
Sparkman said she felt there was a lack of team effort after the loss against the University of Southern Mississippi this weekend.
“I think most of us were not focused coming [in] tonight, and I feel like we should have [been] coming off a loss and everybody was not,” Sparkman said.
FAMU struggled on defense, allowing five Hatters to score in double figures. Two Stetson freshmen combined to score 53 points, and the Hatters shot 59.1 percent from the field.
Senior forward Patrice Collie explained what needs to improve going into conference play Thursday.
“We just weren’t hitting shots, and some people were forcing the issue,” Collie said. “We all need to work on communicating more and work harder on defense.”
The Lady Rattlers are looking to end their two-game losing streak Thursday when they travel to Norfolk, Va., to take on Norfolk State University in their first MEAC game of the season.