Jan. 21, 2010
Final Stats
MURFREESBORO - Since leading scorer L'Oreal Price went down with an ankle injury on Jan. 9, several Fayetteville State players have had to pick up the slack.
In the Broncos' 63-54 win at Chowan on Thursday, senior Tiffany Haywood and center Deja Middleton did the heavy lifting.
Middleton had 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds while Haywood registered her fourth-straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Haywood leads the CIAA in rebounding (10.1 per game) and Middleton is second with 8.7 per game.
"Everybody has had to step it up since L'Oreal (Price) went down," Haywood said. "I've been playing a lot more focused and just trying to help my team out."
FSU (10-4, 6-2 CIAA) scored nearly half of its points in the paint and had 10 2nd-chance points against the Hawks.
"We started the game going inside and then we got away from it," said Broncos head coach Eva Patterson-Heath. "At halftime we reminded them to continue to go inside."
Senior point guard Danielle Russell had nine assists and just two turnovers. LaQuasha Jordan made three 3-point field goals en route to a team-high 17 points and Mercedes Humphries, fresh off a career-high 18 points on Tuesday, had a career-high seven assists.
"That's the story of the Lady Broncos," said Patterson-Heath of the balanced FSU attack. "On any given night, all season long, somebody has been stepping up to fill a hole that we needed filled."
Over her last three games Jordan is averaging 17.6 points per game. Entering January, her career-high was 18 points.
The Broncos, who are 3-2 in CIAA games away from Capel Arena, play three of their next four games on the road.
"We want to steal as many games as we can on the road," Patterson-Heath said. "The CIAA Eastern and Western divisions are wide open. It's important for us to defend home and steal on the road."
FSU held Chowan to 34 percent shooting from the field and 11.1 percent beyond the arc. Ransheeda Jennings led the Hawks (7-8, 4-6 CIAA) with 16 points. Naomi Walters and Najah Harris had 11 points each.
Patterson-Heath and the Broncos host Saint Paul's inside Capel Arena at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
