FORT VALLEY, GA – Senior
Shekiya Tarpkins (Social Circle, Ga.) led the Fort Valley State Lady Wildcats basketball team with a double-double, game-high 18-points, and grabbed 12 rebounds in Thursday night's 79-65 loss to Clark Atlanta University at the HPE Complex.
FVSU fell to 6-15 on the season and 5-8 in the SIAC. CAU upped its game to 8-13 overall and 4-8 in conference play.
Tarpkins scored on 8-of-15 shots from the floor, hitting 2-of-4 free throws; Tarpkins led the team with four assist and one steal. Senior
Briunca Caldwell led the team with a game-high 13 rebounds. Freshman
Daknequa White added 14 and Alicia Franklin scored 11 points. FVSU did manage to out rebound CAU 59-46. FVSU's upset came off 20 turnovers, as the Lady Panthers scored 20 points.
Caldwell scored first for the Lady Wildcats off a jumper, but Lauren Turner's layup tied the game at two all. Tarpkins's jumper upped FVSU's score to 17-12, then sophomore Raynesha Clay's jumper gave FVSU their largest margin of five (19-12) with 2:27 left. Freshman
Alexia Green closed out the quarter with two free throws for the 21-16 quarter ending score. FVSU received eight points off second chance shots in the quarter.
FVSU went into half up 36-32. Tarpkins led all scorers with nine points and added eight rebounds, while Caldwell had 10 rebounds during the first and second quarter. The Lady Wildcats advanced their score by seven three times and went up by eight on Tarpkins' layup with 2:11 left until halftime. At halftime FVSU outgained CAU 38-22 on the boards, while the lead changed four times and the game tied three times.
The Lady Panthers came out of the dressing room on fire going on an 8-0 run 38-36. Tarpkins tied the game 38-38 with 7:50 on the clock. Turner's jumper increased the CAU's lead by 10 (55-45) at the 2:29 mark. Then with 11 seconds remaining Rumph's 3-pointer closed the gap to 54-57. CAU scored 14 points in the paint in the third quarter.
Reyana Miller led CAU with 17 points and Marissa Mandeldove and Turner added 16 points apiece.
Lady Wildcats will host the Lady Tigers of Tuskegee University in their Pink Zone game in The Valley on Saturday, February 11 at 6 pm.
