NORFOLK, Va. – Junior guard Kaylee Allen set a Division I school record in points, while freshman center Alexxus Sowell had a career-day as No. 13 seed Savannah State University women's basketball team (5-25) fell to No. 12 seed Florida A&M University (8-23) 66-64 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in Scope Arena.
 
The Lady Tigers trailed Florida A&M by 13 points, 63-50, with 6:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Savannah State kept chipping away at the deficit by scoring 14 of the next 16 points to cut the lead to a point, 65-64, with 16 seconds left.
 
After a made FAMU free throw to push the lead to two points, 66-64, with 11 seconds, the Lady Tigers missed two three pointers at the end to give the Rattlers the two point win.
 
Allen led the team with 22 points to give her 542 points this season beating the previous best of 529 points set by Ezinne Kalu during the 2011-12 season.  The Cincinnati, Ohio native also set a Division I school record averaging 18.1 points this season beating Kalu's 17.6 points per game also set in the 2011-12 season. 
 
Sowell recorded her second career double-double with a career-high with 17 rebounds and a career-high 15 points and added five blocks on 6-for-13 shooting from the floor, while freshman guard Heniaya Moton added 12 points and a career-high six rebounds.
 
Florida A&M scored the first five points of the game to take a 5-0 lead with 8:03 remaining in the first quarter, but an Allen layup cut the lead to three points, 5-2 with 7:48 left in the quarter.  FAMU scored 18 of the final nine points of the quarter to take a first-quarter lead of 12 points, 23-11.
 
Savannah State scored 22 of the first 35 points of the second quarter to cut the lead to three points, 36-33, with 2:26 remaining in the second quarter, but the Rattlers scored four of the final six points to increase their lead to five points, 40-35, at the half.
 
The Lady Tigers scored the first two points of the third quarter to cut the lead to three points, 40-37, with 7:32 remaining in the quarter, but the Rattlers scored 13 of the final 21 points in the quarter to take a third-quarter lead of eight points, 53-45.
 
Florida A&M scored 10 of the first 15 points of the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 13 points, 63-50, with 6:41 remaining in the quarter.  Then Savannah State chipped away at the lead, but couldn't get ahead of FAMU as the Rattlers held on for the two point win.
 
The Rattlers were led by Florence Ouattara with a game-high 24 points, while Shakeyrra Morrison recorded a double-double with a game-high 19 rebounds and 12 points.
 
Newspaper Box Score
Savannah State vs Florida A&M
3/8/18 2:00 p.m. at 2018 MEAC Women's Basketball Tournament
At 2018 MEAC Women's Basketball Tournament
FLORIDA A&M 66, SAVANNAH STATE 64
SAVANNAH STATE (5-25)
ALLEN,Kaylee 7-23 7-10 22; SOWELL,Alexxus 6-13 3-4 15; MOTON,Heniaya 4-12
1-1 12; ANDERSON,Jacqueline 2-6 0-0 6; BARTLETT,Jazmine 0-5 5-6 5;
FARMER,Nadia 1-2 0-0 3; VANCE,Kayla 0-1 1-2 1; Williams,Cortney 0-2 0-0 0;
SCOTT,Donasja 0-0 0-0 0; RUSSELL,Praise 0-0 0-0 0; Whitehead,Johnna 0-1 0-0
0; JOHNSON,Teyah 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-66 17-23 64.
FLORIDA A&M (8-23)
OUATTARA,Florence 9-20 2-2 24; MORRISON,Shakeyrra 4-13 4-9 12;
YURDAKUL,Ecenur "E" 2-7 2-4 8; ROYAL,Dy'Manee 3-11 2-2 8; KING,Dawn 3-11 0-0
7; DAVIS,De'Ayra 1-3 2-2 5; SMITH,Zhymani 1-3 0-0 2; DARKS,Taylor 0-1 0-0 0;
DAVIs,Ny'Asia 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-69 12-19 66.
Savannah State................   11   24   10   19  -   64
Florida A&M...................   23   17   13   13  -   66
3-point goals--Savannah State 7-24 (MOTON,Heniaya 3-6; ANDERSON,Jacqueline
2-4; FARMER,Nadia 1-1; ALLEN,Kaylee 1-10; JOHNSON,Teyah 0-1;
BARTLETT,Jazmine 0-2), Florida A&M 8-23 (OUATTARA,Florence 4-11;
YURDAKUL,Ecenur "E" 2-4; DAVIS,De'Ayra 1-1; KING,Dawn 1-5; SMITH,Zhymani
0-2). Fouled out--Savannah State-None, Florida A&M-None. Rebounds--Savannah
State 54 (SOWELL,Alexxus 17), Florida A&M 45 (MORRISON,Shakeyrra 19).
Assists--Savannah State 7 (ANDERSON,Jacqueline 2; MOTON,Heniaya 2), Florida
A&M 16 (DAVIS,De'Ayra 4). Total fouls--Savannah State 20, Florida A&M 14.
Technical fouls--Savannah State-None, Florida A&M-None.
 
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