{"id":116278,"date":"2026-01-13T11:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/116278\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:57:17","slug":"famu-women-finding-stride-in-swac-play-under-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/116278\/","title":{"rendered":"FAMU women finding stride in SWAC play under ‘Pressure’"},"content":{"rendered":"

FAMU head women\u2019s basketball coach Bridgette Gordon loved to talk about pressure.\u00a0\u00a0So much so that she earned the nickname \u201cCoach Pressure.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The roots can be dated back to her hall of fame days playing under legendary coach Pat Summit, where her jersey hangs in the rafters at the University of Tennessee.<\/p>\n

It has taken her a couple of years at the helm of the FAMU women\u2019s basketball, but the Lady Rattlers are starting to apply the pressure to the SWAC.\u00a0\u00a0FAMU, fresh off a controversial loss to rival Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, resulting in a one-point loss to the rival Wildcats reeled off two impressive home wins.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 8, the Lady Rattlers took down the Grambling State Lady Tigers in a gritty 59-55 performance.\u00a0\u00a0The Lady Rattler defense held GSU to 34-percent from the field, with only 26.3 percent from three-point range.\u00a0They also caused 20 turnovers and outrebounded Grambling 43-36.\u00a0\u00a0FAMU scored 15 crucial points off those turnovers.<\/p>\n

Purifoy getting it done <\/p>\n

Tannyjia Purifoy<\/a>, the Lady Rattler point guard stepped up to score 14 points to lead the Lady Rattlers.\u00a0\u00a0She would be the only Rattler in double-figures scoring, while Shaniyah McCarthy scored nine points and a team-leading seven rebounds.<\/p>\n

Saturday, the Lady Rattlers went to the well again. This time it was the team picked to win the conference, the reigning champion Southern Jaguars.\u00a0\u00a0SU was held to 34.4-percent from the field with the Rattlers applying full court pressure for large portions of the game.\u00a0\u00a0The Jaguars shot only 25-percent from the three-point arc, while shooting a paltry 34.4 percent from the free throw stripe.<\/p>\n

\"Convert<\/p>\n

Purifoy literally ran past the Jaguars.\u00a0\u00a0With some of the best handles in the SWAC, she showcased what Gordon saw in her as a recruit.\u00a0\u00a0She paced the Lady Rattlers again with 21 points.\u00a0\u00a0More importantly, she provided a nuisance to the SU defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not bragging on her (Purifoy),\u201d Gordon said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cShe\u2019s just that quick and her handles are just that good and she\u2019s tough and her heart is bigger than the body and you can\u2019t measure that.\u00a0\u00a0I love her to death.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m glad she\u2019s on my team and we get her for another year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purifoy was followed in scoring again by McCarthy who scored 10 in the game, and Camille Jackson added eight points.<\/p>\n

FAMU starting to take shape under Gordon<\/p>\n

Gordon has been patiently waiting to turn over her roster to players who could fit the defensive strategy she brings to the table.\u00a0\u00a0She\u2019 not resting on anything, but instead feels like the road will only get tougher as the team will surprise no one in the SWAC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a lot of backlash about our non-conference schedule, but our non-conference schedule was made on purpose to build us,\u201d Gordon said.\u00a0\u00a0I knew I was probably gonna bring in a lot of new young ladies.\u00a0\u00a0It took them a second to trust the process, and now that they trust in the process we did not win going into the new year.\u00a0\u00a0The schedule gave them the confidence that they needed to go into the SWAC in 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lady Rattlers will hit the road for a trek to Mississippi to face the Delta Devilettes who just stunned the Prairie View A&M Panthers 80-73.\u00a0\u00a0FAMU and MVSU face off Thursday, Jan. 15th\u00a0in Itta Bena, MS. At 7:00PM (EST).<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FAMU head women\u2019s basketball coach Bridgette Gordon loved to talk about pressure.\u00a0\u00a0So much so that she earned the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1814,589,58707,11995,232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-116278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-famu","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-hbcu-sports","11":"tag-swac","12":"tag-tallahassee","13":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","14":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}