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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Guard Tahnyjia Purifoy against Texas Southern Defense (Jordan Fitzpatrick\/FAMU Athletics)<\/p>\n
The Florida A&M\u00a0University\u00a0women\u2019s basketball team continued strong with their second-straight\u00a0conference win over Texas Southern, 86-73, on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Rattlers are finding their rhythm after back-to-back wins.\u00a0The team\u2019s ability to capitalize and score helped secure the win, even as Texas Southern attempted to rally in the second half.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s victory was fueled by standout performances from\u00a0senior guards Shaniyah McCarthy and\u00a0Tahnyjia\u00a0Purifoy.\u00a0Freshman Cornelia Ellington\u2019s\u00a0offensive and defensive pressure kept the Panthers at bay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
FAMU started the game strong, leading 17-12 after the first quarter. Senior guard Shaniyah McCarthy led the Rattlers with 11 points in the first half. While Senior guard\u00a0Tahnyjia\u00a0Purifoy added nine points, helping the team enter halftime with a 38-27 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Rattlers let up defensively in the third quarter, as they missed rebounds and allowed the Panthers to score on second-chance opportunities and in transitions.\u00a0FAMU,\u00a0however\u00a0was able to\u00a0maintain\u00a0control and entered the fourth\u00a0quarter\u00a057-50.\u00a0Purifoy knocked down a key three-pointer in the second half to help FAMU regain momentum and extend the lead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Rattlers have carried momentum into consecutive wins\u00a0coming off an 80\u201361 win over Prairie View A&M on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s game highlighted junior forward Miya Giles-Jones, who recorded a double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds.\u00a0McCarthy\u00a0had\u00a018 points\u00a0and\u00a0six rebounds,\u00a0while\u00a0Purifoy\u00a0scored\u00a016 points\u00a0and\u00a0also\u00a0recorded\u00a0six\u00a0rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy\u00a0says she credits\u00a0the team\u2019s preparation for the turnaround after the\u00a0previous\u00a0two losses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, our mindset, practice, the way we start\u00a0practice\u00a0from stretching to walking to gym to however we get there is in the way we finish it,\u201d McCarthy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy and Purifoy led the team with 19 points each\u00a0while Ellington added 14.\u00a0The Rattlers still struggled with rebounding\u00a0despite the strong offensive performance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Purifoy suffered an injury late into the fourth quarter and was\u00a0take\u00a0out for evaluation.\u00a0Gordon\u00a0says\u00a0her status is still being\u00a0determined.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gordon says understanding\u00a0her players and preparation\u00a0explained the difference in Saturday\u2019s game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference was, they do it,\u201d\u00a0Gordon said. \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0still\u00a0the same coach.\u00a0And I tell my staff that,\u00a0in order to\u00a0be a great coach, and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0saying the same thing, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not resonating, then\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0up to us to change the way we explain it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gordon says that she\u00a0always puts her player\u2019s growth first\u00a0despite pushing them hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0gonna\u00a0be tough on them,\u201d Gordon said.\u00a0\u201cOut of love, but also tough to tell them knowing that they can do it and to just go out and be the better version of themselves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With another road trip approaching, McCarthy says\u00a0the team is\u00a0focused and responding to\u00a0previous\u00a0losses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis\u00a0win for us, is just a win, but then again,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0ready for the next road trip,\u201d\u2029McCarthy said.\u00a0\u201cThey\u00a0came\u00a0in\u00a0our house, they beat us. They\u00a0shouldn\u2019t\u00a0have won.\u00a0So\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0ready to go back to Mississippi\u00a0and work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Rattlers will\u00a0travel\u00a0to Lorman, Mississippi,\u00a0to\u00a0face\u00a0Alcorn State\u00a0on\u00a0Thursday, Feb. 12\u00a0at 7 p.m.\u00a0FAMU fell 61-48 during their last matchup on\u00a0Jan. 24.\u00a0The\u00a0Braves are\u00a09-1 in SWAC\u00a0play\u00a0and\u00a0currently\u00a0sit\u00a0in\u00a0second\u00a0place\u00a0behind Alabama A&M University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Guard Tahnyjia Purifoy against Texas Southern Defense (Jordan Fitzpatrick\/FAMU Athletics) The Florida A&M\u00a0University\u00a0women\u2019s basketball team continued strong with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-160879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-tallahassee","9":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","10":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160879","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=160879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}