Women's Basketball 3/1/2008 5:00:00 AM MEAC Media Relations

Strong Second Half Not Enough; Lady Rams Fall to Florida A&M, 59-32

The Winston-Salem State Lady Rams (2-24) fought hard Saturday as the team took a 59-32 loss to the Florida A&M Lady Rattlers at Gaither Gymnasium in Tallahassee, FL.

Saturday’s game was a game of two halves as the Winston-Salem State Lady Rams (2-24) followed one of the worst first halves of the season with one of the team’s best second half performances.

The Lady Rams struggled mightily in the first half, managing just 11 points n the half and shooting just 20.8% from the field in the half. The team’s 11 points were one point shy of tying a season game low for points in a half. Only Delaware State held the Lady Rams to fewer first half points (10). The second half was an entirely different story, however, with the Lady Rams outscoring the Lady Rattlers, 21-19 and forcing the home team to shoot 25% from the floor in the half.

WSSU freshman guard Rene Rector was the only Lady Ram to reach double-digit scoring in the contest with a team high 10 points in the loss. Fellow freshmen Jalesa Byrd and Nikki Kee both added nine points each in the game. Freshman forward Vontisha Woods led the Lady Rams with eight rebounds in the loss. WSSU freshman center Nora Campbell totaled three blocks in the game, two shy of a career-high.

The Lady Rams’ struggles started early in the game with Florida A&M jumping out to an early 14-2 lead. A Byrd jumper was the only WSSU basket of the first five minutes of the game and gave the home team the early edge in the contest. As the half went on, the Lady Rams would find baskets hard to come by as a Rector three-pointer was the team’s only score during an eight-minute span of the game and gave the Lady Rams a 31-7 deficit to overcome. The squad would manage just one more field goal of the half to finish the period with an 11-40 deficit to overcome.

The second half was a different story as the Lady Rams turned up their defensive efforts and converted some easy baskets to bring the Lady Rattlers a little closer. Things looked like more of the same with the Lady Rattlers taking their largest lead of the game, 45-13 with 16:16 left to play. However, the Lady Rams’ defensive efforts would get the game closer with the team shutting down the FAMU offense and holding the Lady Rams without a field goal for a four minute span and cutting the FAMU lead down to 26 points, 47-21 with 11:54 left to play. Things would look bleak for the Lady Rams when freshman center Nora Campbell went down with an ankle injury at the 11:54 mark. She would return, but was laboring in the contest. The Lady Rams would cut their deficit down to 22 points, 51-29 with 8:03 left to play, but could get no closer in the contest.

The loss was the eighth in a row for the Lady Rams and drops the team to 2-24 on the season. The Lady Rams will return to action, Monday evening when the team heads to Daytona, FL to take on the Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats.