TALLAHASSEE, FLA. (www.NCCUEaglePride.com) - In their first contest of the three-day Florida Mid-Eastern Conference weekend, the Lady Eagles of North Carolina Central University fell 66-102 to the Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M on Saturday, Feb. 4 in Tallahassee, Fla., in the Al Lawson Center.
 
In the second series meeting of the season, junior Chasidy Williams led the mighty maroon with a team-high 17 points, as freshman Kabrina Truesdale dropped 14 points and senior Blaire Houston netted 10 points in the loss.  Williams intercepted four Lady Rattlers passes and tallied the only maroon and gray block, while Truesdale collected two assists.
 
FAMU opened the contest with a 6-0 run.  NCCU sophomore Tiffany Gary put the maroon and gray on the board at the 17:47 with a jumper in the paint in response to the run.
 
Despite her efforts, the orange and green advanced to an 11-point 19-8 lead by the 13:09 mark. 
 
On a short 3-0 run, NCCU came within eight for its closest margin break of the half, before FAMU paced to a 23-point lead to end the first 20 minutes of competition, 52-29.
 
By the halftime intermission, sophomore Tenika Neely, Williams and Truesdale led with seven points apiece, while the Lady Rattlers were paced by 20 points from Antonia Bennett and 17 points Tameka McKelton.
 
While Gary once again opened the half with a jumper, the Lady Rattlers found offensive success in the Al Lawson Center and extended the margin led to 34 points by the 13:02 mark, 77-43.
 
The mighty maroon paced to a 16-13 run to bring the margin to 31 by the 4:39 mark.  Nonetheless, FAMU continued to push on reaching a contest-high 36-point margin lead and reaching the triple-figure mark, 100-64.
 
With less than two minutes left in the matchup, NCCU hit a 4-2 run to end the contest 102-66.
 
The Lady Eagles finished the competition shooting 25-of-54 from the field, 46 percent, 4-of-9 from the long range, 44 percent and 12-of-22 from the charity stripe, 55 percent.
 
Four Lady Rattlers scored in double-figures with two of those efforts resulting double-doubles.  Bennett led the orange and green with 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Qiana Donald notched 23 points and 11 rebounds.  McKelton dropped 21 points, as Kimberly Sparkman rounded out the double-figure effort with 15 points. 
 
With their first 100-point outing of the season, Lady Rattlers were 51 percent from the field on 41-of-80, 8-of-26 from behind the arc, and 80 percent from the free-throw line, 12-of-15.
 
NCCU declines to 2-20 overall and 0-9 in MEAC competition, as the FAMU advances to 16-5 overall, 9-0 in conference play and 5-0 in the series.
 
The Lady Eagles venture south of Tallahassee, for Daytona Beach, Fla., to take on the Lady Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman on Monday, Feb. 6 at 5:30 p.m.