Dec. 3, 2011

Final Stats

LAURINBURG, N.C. -- Facing a winless team hungry to pick up their first victory of the season at home, the Fayetteville State Lady Broncos needed to break the will of the St. Andrews Lady Knights early.

Akysia Resper and the Lady Broncos did just that.

Resper (So., Concord, N.C.) scored 11 of her 17 points in the first 8 minutes of the game as Fayetteville State romped past St. Andrews 86-60 on Saturday, returning to the win column for the fourth time in its first five games to open the 2011-12 season.

It was a career day for a couple of Lady Broncos (4-1), as Tierra Coleman (Jr., Cameron. N.C.) set career-highs with 18 points and 17 rebounds in recording her second double-double of the season. Rookie center Bria Robinson (Fr., Belmont, N.C.) added a career-high 17 points to go with six rebounds for Fayetteville State.

As usual, Resper, who added a game-high five steals (Fayetteville State's Tashama Banner also had five steals) was brilliant for the Lady Broncos, who are off to their best start since the 2007-08 season. The CIAA's leading scorer sparked Fayetteville State to what proved to be a decisive 16-0 run with three 3-pointers after an inspired St. Andrews start than enabled the Knights (0-5) to get out to a 9-5 lead.

Before the end of the half, Resper had 13 points, the rookie Robinson had nine and Coleman had five rebounds as the Lady Broncos used later scoring spurts of 8-0 and 7-1 to build a 45-23 lead 2 minutes before the break.

The second half featured more of the same for Fayetteville State, which continued the rout, eventually building a 29-point lead, 75-46, with 9:43 remaining in the game. The Lady Broncos, who held St. Andrews to just 35 percent shooting from the field while making 46 percent of their shots, led by their largest margin, 83-52, with 3:44 left.

Brittany Roberts led the Knights with 15 points while Rebecca Bryant had 14 and Rachel Hewitt added 13. Fayetteville State held St. Andrews' leading scorer Benee Norton, who came into the game as the only player to average double digits in scoring 10 points per game, to just four points on Saturday.

The Lady Broncos travel to play Barton at 2 p.m. next Saturday in Wilson, N.C.