TALLAHASSEE, FL - South Carolina State's Sophilia Hipps had 24 points, all but three in the second half, and Marie Reid added 20 to lead the Lady Bulldogs to a 67-59 come-from-behind win over Florida A&M Monday night at Gaither Athletic Center.

Coach Tonya Mackey's team outscored the host 39-21 in the second half to bounce back from Saturday's heart-breaking 54-43 loss at Bethune-Cookman and improve to 12-15 overall and 9-7 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The difference in Monday's victory and the one-point loss at Daytona Beach Saturday was the Lady Bulldog perimeter shooting, according to Mackey.

"We have a strong inside presence with Marie (Reid) and Jenell (Moore)" Mackey said. "And most of the teams in the conference recognize this and try to do things to try and shut us down inside.

"But tonight," she continued, "We got a big game from Hipps on the perimeter. In the second half, it was like she was in a zone. On Saturday, Marie had 26 points against Bethune-Cookman on the inside, but we could not buy a basketball from outside. When we get strong scoring both inside and from the perimeter, I think we can contend with any of the teams in our conference."

The Lady Bulldogs trailed by 10 - 38-28 -- at the half and fell behind 43-29 when Joslyne Jackson, who had 14 points for FAMU, scored on a spin move with 17:26 left in the contest.

Reid scored two of her points at the 17:01 mark but Stephanie Foster, who led the Lady Rattlers with 19 points in the contest, countered with two free throws to build the margin to 14 points again with 15:48 showing.

Reid then made one of two from the line with 15:32 left and followed with a layup to trigger a 19-8 run that pulled SC State to within 53-50 with 9:37 showing. Consecutive baskets by FAMU's Foster pushed the Lady Rattler lead to 57-50 with 7:20 left but the Lady Bulldogs would close out the game with a 17-2 run.

Evette Young, who had 15 points in the contest for the host, would score the Lady Rattlers' final basket on a layup with 5:06 on the clock, give her team a 59-57 advantage after seven straight Lady Bulldog points, all by Hipps had deadlocked the contest at 57-all with 6:03 on the clock.

After Young's bucket, Hipps nailed her fourth 3-pointer of the game to give Mackey's team its first lead of the contest - 60-59 - with 4:43 left.

The Lady Bulldogs got a lay up from reserve Sasha Sales, a three-point play from Hipps and a Hipps layup off a feed from Reid to close the contest on a 7-0 run for the final margin.

The Lady Bulldogs end their regular season Thursday in a 5:30 p.m. home contest against Winston-Salem State. It will be "Senior Night."

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