The Rattlerettes took sole possession of third place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference after Monday’s 73-63 win over Coppin State.
The victory gave the team even more motivation to disprove preseason predictions of an eleventh place finish.
“It was a big step up in placement in the league,” said sophomore guard Dierdre Tyus said. “We’re jockeying for nice position in the conference.”
The Rattlerettes came out a little sluggish in the first half. A minute and a half into the game, junior Yolanda Dixon finally put the team on the board with a three pointer. She was unable to push her team ahead however, as the Lady Eagles kept fighting back.
“It was a tough game, but we played hard,” said Rattlerette center Kim Watson.
Coppin State stayed with the Rattlerettes through the first half. They were only trailing by two points, 31-29, going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, the Rattlerettes appeared to regain their composure and began to play better defense.
The Rattlerette offense began to pick up as Coppin State gave them more outside shots.
Led by Tyus and Watson with 17 points each, the Rattlerettes had four players who scored in double digits.
With close to 15 minutes remaining in the game, the Rattlerettes began to pull away.
Sinking 14 of 18 shots from the line, FAMU pushed the Lady Eagles from their nest.
“[Basketball] is a game of runs, and who has the last run wins,” coach Debra Clark said. “Even when we made a few errors, we had a nice cushion to work with.”
The Lady Eagles refused to give up, despite being down by more than 10 points with less than four minutes remaining in the contest. But Coppin State continued playing scrappy and committing reckless fouls.
After losing both games last season to the Lady Eagles, the Rattlerettes embraced this win.
They will take a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s road game against North Carolina A&T.