Bethune-Cookman appeared more than capable of upsetting Georgia Tech in Thursday's WNIT opener, in Atlanta.
For the first 10 minutes, at least.
The Lady Wildcats trailed just 24-17 after the opening quarter, but were held scoreless for the first five minutes of the second period as the Yellow Jackets used a 16-0 run to open up a double-digit lead.
Georgia Tech (19-13) never looked back, cruising to an 85-32 victory and ending B-CU's season.
B-CU finished 24-7, and fell in the opening round of the WNIT for the third straight year. The Wildcats lost to Hampton in last Friday's MEAC semifinal after winning a share of the regular-season title and entering the tournament as the No. 2 seed.
"It's special to be still playing and for this program to continue to take strides," B-CU head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis said. "However, obviously this wasn't the end goal for this team. Next year we need to make sure we're not playing in this tournament."
Angel Golden led all Wildcats scorers with eight points — all of which came in the opening quarter. Chas Brown finished with six points and Ashanti Hunt added five rebounds.
Golden, the MEAC's Player of the Year, hit a pair of 3s midway through the first quarter to cut the Georgia Tech lead to two, and Hunt's 3-point play in the waning seconds of the period made it 24-17.
Things would go downhill, quickly, the rest of the way for B-CU. The Wildcats scored just 15 points over the next three quarters, and went just 2 for 34 from the field.
Georgia Tech opened the second quarter with 16 straight points, starting the run with a Francesca Pan 3 and ending it with a jumper by Kierra Fletcher. The Wildcats turned it over four times during the run, while Georgia Tech went 7 of 8 from the field.
The Wildcats finished with 16 first-half turnovers, and 29 for the game.
Georgia Tech took a 46-22 lead into the locker room, and continued to add to it in the third quarter, opening the period on a 17-4 run and taking a 37-point lead into the final quarter. The Yellow Jackets finished the game on a 20-4 run.
Pan finished with 19 points, including 17 in the first half, while Lorela Cubaj fell just short of a triple-double, adding 17 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Four Yellow Jackets finished in double figures, while Georgia Tech shot nearly 50 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Wildcats, 49-25.