Box Score Lady Marauders win three straight with victory over Fort Valley State
WILBERFORCE, Ohio - The Central State Lady Marauders opened the new year with a convincing 75-52 win over the Wildcats of Fort Valley State on Monday night.
Central State managed just 8 points in the first quarter and trailed by nine midway through the second frame. With 3:34 remaining before halftime.
Tamara Sellers hit from beyond the arc to spark CSU's 13-1 run to take a 26-23 lead at halftime.
"Fort Valley State had a lot of length that really bothered us early on," CSU Head Coach
Sheba Harris said. "After a slow start, our ladies did a tremendous job of staying in the game with a few defensive stops. We were finally able to hit shots on offense which gave us all the momentum going into the locker room at halftime."
The Lady Marauders seized full control in the third as
Sierra Harley scored 9 points to lead CSU to a 27-point quarter and 53-38 lead heading into the final ten minutes. Central State opened the fourth quarter on a 8-3 run as a
Destinee Russell basket ballooned the Lady Marauder lead to 22 points with 5:42 to play. FVSUÂ cut the deficit down to 15 with 1:48 to play but CSU scored the final 8 points of the contest to win by 23.
Leading the SIAC in steals, the Lady Marauders eclipsed their season average with 16 on the night. They also forced FVSU in 28 turnovers on the night. Offensively, CSU shot 44% from the field compared to the Wildcats' 28% performance.
CSU senior guard
Ghameerah McCullers led all scorers with 18 points, converting 9 of 18 field goals. Harley filled the stat sheet with 13 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals. With the victory, the Lady Marauders extend their winning streak to three games. The team is currently 6-5 overall with a 3-2 mark in SIAC play.
FVSU was led by 12 points from Tia Williams. No other FVSU player eclipsed double-digit scoring figures as the Wildcats fell to 3-8 on the season and 1-1 in the conference.
The Lady Marauders will return to action on the road this Thursday against Clark-Atlanta University at 5:30 pm in Atlanta, Georgia.
