Fayetteville State defeats Lady Braves
Nov. 16—FAYETTEVILLE — Fayetteville State canned 14 3-pointers and picked up 24 points from its bench on the way to a 72-67 victory over the UNC Pembroke women's basketball team on Wednesday evening inside the Felton J. Capel Arena.
The setback from the Braves (1-2) marks the third straight loss to Fayetteville State, but UNCP holds an overall 20-17 all-time record over FSU. The outcome for the Broncos (3-0) marked a season-high in points and also was their best shooting performance of the season.
Fayetteville State shot 57.1% from the field in the first quarter an took a 14-8 lead after a 3-pointer from Aniylah Bryant with 5:33 on the clock. UNC Pembroke shot 46.1% in the period and cut the deficit back to 15-14 with a trey from Kelci Adams, but the Broncos knocked down a three with nine seconds left to hold a 24-20 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Braves used a 6-0 scoring surge to cut the deficit back to 28-26 with four minutes left to play in the half. Zaria Clark tied the score at 29 apiece with a jumper in the paint with just over two minutes on the clock, but FSU closed out the half on a 9-4 run to lead 38-33 advantage as the teams headed into the locker rooms.
A fastbreak layup from Amina Miles pushed the Fayetteville State lead out to 43-33 just two minutes into the half. A Clark jumper and a trey from Adams cut the deficit back 43-38 with 7:30 on the clock. The Braves were limited to just 13.3% shooting from the field in the quarter as FSU extended its lead out to 52-40 with a bucket at the buzzer from Daziyahna Wilson as the teams headed into the final stanza.
Keayna McLaughlin's layup gave the Broncos a 61-51 lead with 4 1/2 minutes left in regulation. A trey from Lillian Flantos whittled the deficit back to 63-58 with 2:40 on the clock, but Fayetteville State pushed its lead back out to 71-62 with a minute left in regulation to stop a UNCP comeback.
Adams scored a team-best 18 points on a 6-for-11 performance from the perimeter. The redshirt junior flirted with a double-double with eight rebounds in 40 minutes of action.
Kalaya Hall turned in a 15-point performance going 4-for-9 from the field. Hall added two rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Hannah Russell registered her third consecutive double-digit scoring night with 10 points. Russell grabbed five rebounds and three assists.
Clark pulled down a team-best nine rebounds. Anastasia Sinclair came off of the bench and added eight points and five rebounds.
UNC Pembroke went 10-for-23 (43.5%) from the perimeter. However, Fayetteville State made good on 14-of-36 (38.9%) from the 3-point line.
FSU scored 19 points off of 19 UNCP turnovers. UNCP score just nine points off of 13 Fayetteville State turnovers.
The Braves posted a 43-34 advantage in the rebound column.
Fayetteville State never trailed during Wednesday's contest.
The Braves will open the home portion of their schedule on Saturday when they welcome St. Augustine's to town. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
