NORFOLK, Va. – The No. 8 seed Savannah State University women's basketball team (12-19) finishes the season with a 53-43 loss against the top seed Bethune-Cookman University (20-9) in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Quarterfinals Wednesday.
 
The Lady Tigers were down by 18 points with 8:33 remaining in the game, but went on an 18-4 run to cut the lead to four points, 45-41, with 1:17 left, but the Wildcats scored eight of the final 10 points for the 10 point win.
 
Senior center Tiyonda Davis recorded her eighth double-double this season with a game-high 19 rebounds and 11 points and added five blocks and two steals, while senior guard Kenyata Hendrix added a team-high 16 points and added nine rebounds and four assists.  The 19 rebounds gives Davis 267 rebounds this season to rank second in school history in the Division I era for a single season.
 
Graduate student guard Lauren "Gaby" Moss added seven points, while senior forward Jeremica Edwards added six points, six rebounds and a game-high five steals.
 
As a team, the Lady Tigers recorded 48 rebounds to give SSU 1,170 rebounds this season to move into third most in school history and recorded 15 made field goals to give the Lady Tigers 585 made field goals this season to finish in the top five. 
 
A Moss three-pointer gave SSU an early 3-0 lead with 7:57 remaining in the first quarter, but Bethune-Cookman scored 11 of the final 17 points to take a two-point lead, 11-9, after the first quarter.  Davis had six of the SSU's nine points during the quarter.
 
Bethune-Cookman scored four of the first six points of the second quarter to increase its lead to four points, 15-11, with 7:27 remaining in the quarter, but the Lady Tigers scored the next three points to cut the lead to a point, 15-14, with 5:19 left.  The Wildcats scored the final five points of the quarter to take a six-point, 20-14, halftime lead.
 
The Wildcats scored 15 of the first 20 points of the third quarter to increase their lead to 16 points, 35-19, with 3:06 remaining in the quarter, but Savannah State scored four of the final six points to cut the lead to 14 points, 37-23, after the third quarter.
 
Bethune-Cookman scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to increase its lead to 18 points, 41-23, but the Lady Tigers scored the next four points to cut the lead to 14 points, 41-27, with 7:07 left.  The Wildcats scored the next four points to increase their lead to 18 points, 45-27, with 6:15 remaining in the game, but Savannah State scored the next 14 points to cut the lead to four points, 45-41, with 1:17 left.  B-CU scored eight of the final 10 points for the 10 point win.
 
The Wildcats were led by Kendra Cooper with 20 points, while Taylor Houston added 13 points and six rebounds and Kailyn Williams finished with 11 rebounds, five points and six blocks.
 
Newspaper Box Score
Savannah State vs Bethune-Cookman
3/8/17 12 noon at Scope Arena - Norfolk, Va.
At Scope Arena - Norfolk, Va.
BETHUNE-COOKMAN 53, SAVANNAH STATE 43
SAVANNAH STATE (12-19)
HENDRIX,Kenyata 4-17 8-10 16; DAVIS,Tiyonda 5-13 1-2 11; MOSS,Lauren 2-9 2-2
7; EDWARDS,Jeremica 3-11 0-0 6; SHAW,Taylor-Ashley 1-3 1-2 3; RUSSELL,Praise
0-2 0-0 0; GRAHAM,Charmia 0-0 0-0 0; BROWN,Deyja 0-2 0-0 0; WARREN,Rhianna
0-2 0-0 0; FIELDS,Lauryn 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-60 12-16 43.
BETHUNE-COOKMAN (20-9)
COOPER,Kendra 6-19 4-4 20; HOUSTON,Taylor 5-9 2-4 13; HUNT,Ashanti 1-8 6-8
8; WILLIAMS,Emily 1-5 4-6 6; WILLIAMS,Kailyn 2-4 1-2 5; GODFREY,Alea 0-0 1-2
1; GOLDEN,Angel 0-4 0-0 0; BROWN,Chasimmie 0-3 0-0 0; WALKER,Armani 0-0 0-0
0; BATTLE,Kanesha 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-54 18-26 53.
Savannah State................    9    5    9   20  -   43
Bethune-Cookman...............   11    9   17   16  -   53
3-point goals--Savannah State 1-12 (MOSS,Lauren 1-3; RUSSELL,Praise 0-1;
BROWN,Deyja 0-1; HENDRIX,Kenyata 0-7), Bethune-Cookman 5-18 (COOPER,Kendra
4-9; HOUSTON,Taylor 1-3; WILLIAMS,Emily 0-3; GOLDEN,Angel 0-3). Fouled
out--Savannah State-HENDRIX,Kenyata, Bethune-Cookman-None.
Rebounds--Savannah State 48 (DAVIS,Tiyonda 19), Bethune-Cookman 44
(WILLIAMS,Kailyn 11). Assists--Savannah State 7 (HENDRIX,Kenyata 4),
Bethune-Cookman 7 (WILLIAMS,Emily 3). Total fouls--Savannah State 23,
Bethune-Cookman 15. Technical fouls--Savannah State-None,
Bethune-Cookman-None.
 
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