Deidra Jones scored a team-high 15 points and Antonia Bennett added 13 points and 13 rebounds, but it Stephanie Foster who made the key plays down the stretch that allowed Florida A&M University to hold off South Carolina State, 54-50 in the first round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women’s tournament at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

                The Lady Rattlers (13-16), the Number 7 seed advances to the next round against Coppin State, the Number 2 seed at 10 am on Wednesday morning.  The Lady Bulldogs, the Number 10 seed, finish their season at 6-23.

                Florida A&M controlled the tempo from the tip and took a 33-25 lead to the locker  room.  Jones supplied most of the offense with 12 points to lead all scorers while Bennett contributed eight as the Lady Rattlers shot 46 percent.  SC State center Marie Reid led the way for her team with 10 points.

                The Lady Rattlers continued to maintain an eight-point lead through the early part of the second half until a 14-9 run opened a 47-34 FAMU lead at the 10:34 mark.

                But The Lady Bulldogs, who split with FAMU during the season, embarked on a  16-4 run that cut the deficit to 52-50 with 1:40 remaining.  It was Sophilia Hipps and Reid who spurred the comeback as they combined for 13 of the points during their run.

                “ I think we got a little complacent when we went up by 13 points,” said Florida A&M Head coach LeDawn Gibson.  “We relaxed a little bit.  Hipps hadn’t hit any shots during the early part of the game and she stepped up along with Reid.”

                Then came the biggest play of the game.  The Lady Bulldogs had two opportunities to tie the score but on the first, they missed an easy shot and on the second, Foster blocked a shot attempt.  She was later fouled and calmly sank the two free throws that sealed the win for SC State and sent them into the next round.

                “I just wanted to come out and basically get a good start to get the ball rolling,” said Foster, who scored 11 points off the bench and grabbed 7 rebounds.

                “Obviously, we’re very pleased with the outcome of the game,” said Coach Gibson.  “I think we played hard, not quite the entire 40 minutes, but we did enough to get the win.”

                Reid finished with a game-high 17 points for the Lady Bulldogs while Brjian Turner added 10 off the bench.

                “The game was pretty much a synopsis of our season,” said SC State first year head coach Doug Robertson.  “We played well in spurts and we allowed Florida A&M to make a run.  I told the players that we needed to match a run with a run.  We did that in the second half and we gave ourselves an opportunity to win the ballgame.  It boils down to them making a few more shots and free throws than us. And that’s basically the difference in a game like this.”

GAME NOTES: Coppin State won both games against FAMU during the regular season, winning 54-50 in Tallahassee, January 19 and 57-45 on February 16 in Baltimore, MD.