WINSTON-SALEM, NC- (March 13, 2009)- Bernadette Fortune scored a game-high 19 points to lead No. 6 seed Hampton to a 70-58 win over No. 7 Florida A&M in the MEAC Tournament semifinals on Friday afternoon at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Lady Pirates (16-15) advance to Saturday’s championship game against top-seeded North Carolina A&T. Tip-off is at noon and the game will be televised on a tape-delay basis on ESPNU.
This marks the Lady Pirates’ first MEAC Tournament title game appearance since 2004, when they beat Delaware State to capture the championship. That Hampton team was coached by current N.C. A&T coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs.
Hampton shot 56 percent (15-of-27) from the floor in the first half while holding FAMU (14-17) to 24 percent shooting (7-of-29). The Lady Pirates ended the half on a 14-4 run, which included four points from Quanneisha Perry, to stretch their lead to 38-19 going into the break. Fortune led all players with 10 points in the opening stanza.
Hampton maintained a double-digit cushion for much of the second half before Florida A&M mounted a late rally. The Lady Rattlers went on a 12-0 run, capped by a Deidra Jones layup, to get within 55-51 with 4:14 left. But Chinyere Ukoh scored on a put-back, Melaine Warner banked in a layup and Fortune hit two free throws in a 6-0 Hampton spurt that pushed the lead back to double digits.
“I think we dug a hole a little too deep for us to be able to come all the way back,” said first-year FAMU head coach LeDawn Gibson. “Our rotation isn’t very deep, and the wear and tear (of playing three games in four days) caught up to us.”
“We have played 11 or 12 players all season, and that depth was a key for us today,” Hampton head coach Walter Mebane said. “Our young players lost their focus for a while and didn’t execute offensively like we had been. But we responded to their run with poise and patience.”
Warner added 11 points and Ukoh, Perry and Laura Lewis scored eight apiece for Hampton.
Antonia Bennett scored 18, Stephanie Foster 16 and Jones 13 for the Lady Rattlers.
-2009 MEAC Basketball Tournament: Our Time is Now-