WILBERFORCE, Ohio __ Tuskegee was outscored 20-15 in a crucial third quarter, falling to Central State 53-47 on Saturday afternoon inside the Beacom-Lewis Gymnasium.
The Golden Tigers dropped to 14-8 overall and 11-7 in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action, while the Marauders improved to 11-14 and 8-10 in the league.
TU shot just 30.8 percent (4-13) in the first quarter but forced CSU into seven turnovers and scored eight points in the paint. Tuskegee held a 10-9 lead at the end of the period thanks to four points from
Sumaiyah Abdur-Rahim, along with two from
Cynaye Bobbitt,
Mikayla Malik, and
Alana Roberts.
Central State tied the game at 13-13 with just under eight minutes to play in the second, as the game began to go back and forth, despite a poor shooting quarter on both sides. CSU shot 27.8 percent (5-for-18) from the field, while TU finished 18.8 percent (3-for-16) from the floor in the frame.
The Marauders took their first lead of the second with a 5-0 run to hold a 20-15 lead before the media timeout at the 3:31 mark, however the Golden Tigers fought back, holding CSU to just one more point in the half to trail 21-19 at the break.
The offensive production picked up in the third, as the teams scored a combined 25 points and both sides seeing their best shooting splits. Tuskegee shot 60 percent from the floor and a perfect 2-for-2 from long range to score 15 points, while Central State went 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-5 from the free throw line in the quarter, leading 41-34 heading into the fourth.
The Golden Tigers outscored CSU 13-12 in the fourth, yet could not complete the comeback, despite cutting the lead to just one point on three different occasions, with the last being at 48-47 with 1:09 to go.
From there, Central State closed the game on the free throw line, going a perfect 6-for-6 at the line to secure the 53-47 win.
Tuskegee finished at 34.6 percent (18-for-52) from the field and 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from deep. CSU shot 31.0 percent (18-for-58) overall and just 5.9 percent (1-for-17) from three.
Abdur-Rahim led the Golden Tigers with 12 points to go along with three rebounds and three assists as the lone double figure scorer for the road team, while Malik added eight points, followed by
Brittney Bolin and
Trinity Layton with seven each.
Naomi Shorts had a game-high for the Marauders with 21 points, eight steals, four assists, and four rebounds on the day.
Up Next
Tuskegee wraps up the two-game road swing and the regular season against Kentucky State inside the William Exum Center on Monday, Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. ET.
How to Follow the Golden Tigers: For complete information on Tuskegee Golden Tigers Women's Basketball, visit
GoldenTigerSports.com and follow the team's social media channels on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook.
