Florida A&M Lady Rattlers were defeated in their battle against Savannah State University Women’s basketball team 47-65 on Wednesday night at Al Lawson Gymnasium.
FAMU shot only 26.7 (16-for-60) percent on the floor, while Savannah State shot 40.7(24-for-59), plus shooting 5 (1-for-20) percent from the 3-point line.
Lady Rattler Dy’Manee Royal a sophomore forward and Shakeyrra Morrison a senior forward both scored nine points each. Florence Outatara, a junior guard, and De’Ayra Davis, a freshman guard, both added seven points each.
Leading player for the Tigers, junior forward Kaylee Allen, poured in 26 points with five free throws. Then came Alexxus Sowell scoring 11 points and Honiara Moton putting in nine points.
FAMU started out rocky, falling behind with a nine-point defeat 7-16, with 2:37 remaining in the first quarter; however, FAMU added four more points to bring the score to 11-16 with 1:50 left in the first quarter.
Going into the second quarter, Savannah State managed to score out the Rattlers with a better field goal percentage, increasing their score to an 11 point lead. FAMU scored the next four points leaving the score 19-26.
Team Captain, Shalaunda Burney-Robbinson, a junior center, believes the team has to play to their own game.
“We as a team could have done better,” Robinson said. Sometimes when we play certain teams, we play to their level of skills and not to our own. That’s our biggest problem as a team,” said Robinson.
“We just have to keep playing hard and trust one another as teammates.” Robinson concluded.
With the lack of shooting, the Rattlers came out of the second quarter scoring only eight points and the Tigers scored 14. At the half, the score was 35-21.
Assistant for the Lady Rattlers Keshawin Gilley believes FAMU has great chemistry but sometimes give up too quickly on defense.
“Every game is a new game,” Gilley said. “All you can ask for is for them to play hard. You have to go strong for all four quarters.”
The Lady Rattlers fell short in the third quarter as the Tigers increased their lead making it hard for the Lady Rattlers to keep up.
Robinson stated “I believe we played hard. Everything is a process. I would say we need to work on our defense because that’s when we foul the most.”
To seal the win the Tigers added 20 points in the fourth quarter and the Rattlers pulled in only 13 leaving the final score, Savannah State 65 and FAMU with 47. Next, FAMU will take on North Carolina Central, February 10th, at 6p.m. in the McDougald-McLendon Arena.