FAMU women lose third straight

The Rattlers came up short against North Carolina A&T on Saturday.
Sydne Vigille | The Famuan

After losing in overtime at Morgan State on Monday, the FAMU women’s basketball team dropped its third game in a row on Saturday.

North Carolina A&T’s 56-48 win at the Lawson Center left the Rattlers at 1-7 in the MEAC and 3-17 overall. The Aggies, 10-10 overall, remain unbeaten in league play (7-0).

“Of course it’s not the outcome that we (FAMU) wanted as a team, but I saw my team grow up tonight and I was very proud of their efforts for four quarters,” coach LeDawn Gibson said. “Like I told them, I’m very optimistic about what we can do the rest of the season. We have a very young team and I thought we competed very well.”

Although FAMU wasn’t able to pull out the win against NC A&T, there were multiple Rattlers who were able to contribute in many ways. Freshman Mya Moye scored a team-high 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field (2-4 from the three-point line).

And freshman guard Autumn Goram chipped in with 10 points to go along with three rebounds, and one assist.

The Rattlers struggled to find any rhythm on the offensive side of the ball throughout the game, shooting only 15 of 52 from the field (6 of 18 from beyond the arc), to go along with more turnovers (19) than assists (10). Their defense made it just as hard on the Aggies. NC A&T had double the amount of turnovers (20) to assists (10) and was only able to knock down 20 of their 63 shots.

While the Rattlers looked poised to make a comeback late in the fourth quarter, their hopes ultimately fell short, as costly turnovers along with crucially missed free throws down the stretch sealed their fate.

“We played hard, we played tough, and we fought all the way to the end because we’re a fighting team and we’re never going to give up,” Morgan Mitchell said.

Gibson said the team may have found its identity using a full-court press to harass the Aggies.

“I feel at this point of the season this is how we're going to identify ourselves,” Gibson said. “We (FAMU) can’t sit back and let people do what they want to do, we want to disrupt other teams as much as we can.”

Looking to break their three-game skid, the Rattlers will host MEAC rival, North Carolina Central (5-16, 2-6 MEAC) at 4 p.m. Monday.