FAMU Women Hold Off Maryland-Eastern-Shore, 82-78

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 11) ­ The Florida A&M Rattlerettes placed four players in double figures in a hard-fought 82-78 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore's Lady Hawks in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's game Saturday afternoon.

Florida A&M (5-7, 1-2 in MEAC) was led by sophomore guard Yolanda Dixon with 23 points. Senior Kim Watson recorded her sixth double-double of the year with 21 points and 14 rebounds, while point guard Tene Miller added 17 and Dierdre Tyus chipped in 14.

UMES (3-9, 0-3) was paced by Octavia Thompson's 19 points, which included five three-pointers. Rachel Goodwin kicked in 16 points, while Antoinette Daniels added 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Hawks.

FAMU led by one point, 36-35 at intermission, but there were seven ties and 16 lead changes in the game.

The Rattlerettes led by 10 points with under five minutes to play, 80-70, but UMES behind the shooting of Thompson and Goodwin, sliced their lead to two, 80-78, with 20 seconds to play.

UMES turned the ball over after stealing the inbounds play after Goodwin's fourth three-pointer cut the lead to two. Yolanda Dixon knocked down a pair of foul shots with eight seconds left to ice the game for Florida A&M.