DOVER, Del. - A couple of Lady Hornets set career milestones this evening, but it wasn't enough as the Florida A&M University Lady Rattlers defeated the Delaware State University women's basketball team, 84-65, at Memorial Hall in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play.
Freshman Chelsea Dukes (Baltimore, Md.) tallied a new career-high 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 2-for-3 from behind the arc in addition to 5-for-7 from the charity stripe as she surpassed her previous career-high of 15 points, set on Nov. 11 vs. Wesley. Dukes recorded 14 of her points in the second half. The guard also collected five rebounds, besting her previous career-high of three rebounds, set five times prior.
Fellow freshman Keyanna Tate (Beltsville, Md.) collected the first double double of her career, recording 10 points and 10 rebounds. The 10 rebounds is a career-high, her previous high of nine was set against Robert Morris on Nov. 27. The forward's career-high in points is 11, recorded twice so far this season.
The Lady Rattlers, riding a 10-game winning streak, jumped out to a 9-2 lead to start the game, including five points from MEAC leading scorer Antonia Bennett. DSU rallied with four points to cut the lead to three at 6-9 with 15:43 in the first half.
A layup from junior Kianna D'Oliveira (Newport News, Va.) at 13:24 put things at 17-8 in favor of Florida A&M. The Lady Rattlers then went on a 10-0 run, holding the Lady Hornets scoreless for the next six-plus minutes.
Dukes knocked down a trey at 6:34 to put DSU back on the board, but FAMU's Kimberly Sparkman responded with a three of her own to make things 30-11 in favor of the Lady Rattlers.
Florida A&M proceeded to go up by as much as 28 in the first half and went into halftime with a 27-point lead at 47-20. In the first half, the Lady Hornets recorded 12 turnovers to just six for the Lady Rattlers. FAMU benefited from these turnovers as they turned them into 17 points while DSU recorded just two points off of FAMU turnovers.
Sophomore Tasia Bristow (Baltimore, Md.) opened the second half with a trey to bring the score to 47-23.
With 14:34 left in the game, Sparkman hit another three for the Lady Rattlers, posting FAMU's largest lead of the game at 29 points at 54-25.
The two teams exchanged points over the next eight minutes.
With less than four minutes remaining in the game, the Lady Hornets went on a 6-0 run to make things 78-55. Â DSU also finished the game on a 10-2 run, including three-pointers from Dukes and sophomore Tarshaye' White (Suitland, Md.), but it was too little, too late, as the Lady Hornets fell, 84-65.
The 65 points is just the fifth time this season Del State has scored over 60 points.
FAMU received double digit scoring from four players and were led by Tameka McKelton's game-high of 25 points. Bennett recorded a double double of 24 points and 14 rebounds in addition to three blocked shots. Sparkman posted 12 points of her own while Qiana Donald recorded 10 points and eight rebounds for the Lady Rattlers.
The loss is DSU's eighth straight, marking their longest losing streak of the season, and puts them at 3-15 on the year and 0-5 in the MEAC. The Lady Rattlers continue a hot-streak, with the win marking their 11th straight. They improve to 14-5 overall and 7-0 in conference action.
The Lady Hornets now hit the road for the first time in a month as they travel to North Carolina next weekend. They take on North Carolina Central on Saturday at 2 p.m. and North Carolina A&T on Monday at 6 p.m.
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