Clarksville, TN – Finding itself facing another double-digit halftime deficit, the Austin Peay women’s basketball team never panicked.
Unfortunately for APSU, however, neither did Florida A&M.
Despite a furious comeback, the Lady Govs were unable to withstand 13 made 3-pointers, falling to the Lady Rattlers 86-77 in the Dunn Center Tuesday.
“I thought we came out very sluggish and kind of skiddish with the ball,” Lady Govs head coach Carrie Daniels said. “I felt like let their pressure kind of dictate what we did on the offensive end. Defensively, we weren’t aggressive as we needed to be.”
Then, like the Lady Govs had done numerous times this season, they fought back.
“Coach told us (at halftime) that we’ve still got 20 minutes to play,” Lady Govs forward Jasmine Rayner said. “We all got together and talked about putting everything together in the second half. I wish we could play both halves, but the jitters in the first half came out and fueled us for the second half.”
After starting the second half on a 14-0 run fueled by stellar defense and quick transition buckets, the Lady Govs took a 65-64 lead on a 3-pointer from Whitney Hanley with 6:26 left to play.
That would be their last lead of the ballgame as FAMU responded with three consecutive 3-pointers, including a four-point play from Tameka McKelton to put the Lady Rattlers in front 74-65.
Hanley’s final 3-pointer – her third of the night – cut the Lady Govs deficit to 77-72, but that would be as close as APSU got the rest of the ballgame.
“All-around, we weren’t ourselves and we weren’t the team we needed to be coming out on the home court to get the win,” Daniels said.
Meghan Bussabarger finished with 21 points to lead the Lady Govs, who were playing FAMU for the first time in school history.
Bussabarger also recorded her first double-double of the season in the loss, hauling in 11 rebounds.
Rayner scored 15 points in a very balanced effort as the Memphis native finished 2-of-4 from the field in the first half before adding her final six points over the game’s final 20 minutes.
Antonia Bennett finished with 25 points for the Lady Rattlers – 22 of which came in the first half after shooting 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.
“Our transition defense really hurt us tonight,” Daniels said. “As they started to get easy run-outs, we started to get bunched up in the lane. Once that happened, they started knocking down shots and they made us pay.”
Because of the amount of energy expended in Tuesday’s comeback, Daniels said the team had no choice but to dig deep for Wednesday’s game against visiting Alabama A&M.
“It’s not something that we can worry about or think about,” Daniels said. “We’ve got to be competitors. This is the last game before the holidays and the last game before OVC play. We’ve got to reenergize those legs and be ready to go.”
Tipoff in Wednesday’s game is set for 5:15pm in the Dunn Center.
Photo Gallery
Box Score
Florida A&M vs Austin Peay
12/20/11 7:00pm at Clarksville, TN. (Dunn Center)
Florida A&M 86
| Total | 3-point | Rebounds | ||||||||||||
| ## | Player | p | fgm-fga | fgm-fga | ftm-fta | off-def | tot | pf | tp | a | to | blk | stl | min |
| 22 | BENNETT, Antonia | f | 10-18 | 4-8 | 1-2 | 0-14 | 14 | 2 | 25 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 38 |
| 15 | DONALD, Qiana | c | 5-7 | 0-0 | 4-6 | 4-2 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 33 |
| 02 | MARTIN, Keturah | g | 0-4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| 03 | McKELTON, Tameka | g | 6-9 | 5-6 | 6-6 | 1-0 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 31 |
| 12 | SPARKMAN, Kimberly | g | 5-14 | 4-11 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 35 |
| 01 | BLUE, Jaleesa | – | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 04 | CAISE, Carrington | – | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 05 | GRICE, Jasmine | – | 2-9 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 14 |
| 11 | LACY, Andreya | – | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 32 | SMILEY, Regina | – | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 | COLLIE, Patrice | – | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 | FOREMAN, Jamie | – | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| TM | TEAM | – | – | – | – | 2-5 | 7 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – |
| Totals………….. | – | 29-67 | 13-28 | 15-20 | 10-28 | 38 | 15 | 86 | 21 | 14 | 6 | 15 | 200 | |
| 43.3% | 46.4% | 75.0% | ||||||||||||
| Team summary: | FG | 3FG | FT | |||||||||||
| 1st Half: | 18-36 | 7-15 | 5-6 | |||||||||||
| 50.0% | 46.7% | 83.3% | ||||||||||||
| 2nd Half: | 11-31 | 6-13 | 10-14 | |||||||||||
| 35.5% | 46.2% | 71.4% | ||||||||||||
Austin Peay 77
| Total | 3-point | Rebounds | ||||||||||||
| ## | Player | p | fgm-fga | fgm-fga | ftm-fta | off-def | tot | pf | tp | a | to | blk | stl | min |
| 14 | MARTINEZ, Leslie | f | 4-9 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 36 |
| 43 | BUSSABARGER, Meghan | f | 8-14 | 3-5 | 2-2 | 3-8 | 11 | 3 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 34 |
| 03 | BULEY, Shira | g | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 05 | OLSZEWSKI, Nicole | g | 5-10 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 32 |
| 12 | HANLEY, Whitney | g | 6-16 | 3-9 | 2-2 | 1-5 | 6 | 1 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 39 |
| 00 | RAYNER, Jasmine | – | 6-10 | 0-0 | 3-6 | 2-3 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| 04 | STAINBACK, Kristen | – | 1-1 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 44 | OLSZEWSKI, Shelby | – | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| TM | TEAM | – | – | – | – | 1-4 | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals………….. | – | 31-64 | 8-23 | 7-11 | 8-31 | 39 | 13 | 77 | 16 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 200 | |
| 48.4% | 34.8% | 63.6% | ||||||||||||
| Team summary: | FG | 3FG | FT | |||||||||||
| 1st Half: | 11-29 | 2-10 | 5-7 | |||||||||||
| 37.9% | 20.0% | 71.4% | ||||||||||||
| 2nd Half: | 20-35 | 6-13 | 2-4 | |||||||||||
| 57.1% | 46.2% | 50.0% | ||||||||||||
| Score by Periods | 1st | 2nd | Total | |
| Florida A&M | 48 | 38 | 86 | Record: (6-5) |
| Austin Peay | 29 | 48 | 77 | Record: (3-9) |
| Points in the paint-FAMU 30,APSU 30. Points off turnovers-FAMU 15,APSU 12. |
| 2nd chance points-FAMU 4,APSU 8. Fast break points-FAMU 8,APSU 10. |
| Bench points-FAMU 10,APSU 21. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-3 times. |
| Last FG-FAMU 2nd-02:23, APSU 2nd-00:38. |
| Largest lead-FAMU by 19 1st-03:30, APSU by 3 1st-17:22. |
|
Officials: Jody Cantrell (R), Sonny Scyphers, Howard Hall Technical fouls: Florida A&M-None. Austin Peay-None. Attendance: 385 Copies in a Flash APSU Player of the Game: Meghan Bussabarger |
