HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -
Olivia Brown scores a career-high 22 points as the Lady Braves split the Alabama road trip 1-1 with a 58-55 victory over Alabama A&M at T.M. Elmore Gym.
The Lady Braves jumped out to a 12-4 lead with just over five minutes into the first half.
After the Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to 12-7, the Lady Braves pulled away once again on a jumper by Brown to make the score 16-7 at the 9:44 mark.
The next two minutes were all about the Lady Bulldogs capitalizing on the Lady Braves turnovers to cut the lead to 16-15 with 7:03 to play.
Brown caught fire scoring eight of the Lady Braves next 12 points including two three-pointers to extend the Lady Braves lead to 28-20 at the half.
Immediately following the break, the Lady Braves went on a 9-2 run to open the second half, but the Lady Bulldogs just wouldn't go away.
Alabama A&M's Brittney Strickland nailed a three and Bria Venson made a layup to put the Lady Bulldogs within three, 39-36 with 12:02 to play.
Norianna Haynes scored five consecutive points to maintain the Lady Braves lead 44-40 with 10:00 to go.
But it was Brown who carried the load for the Lady Braves tonight scoring the next nine points to push the lead up to 53-44 at the 6:44 mark.
Alabama A&M surged back with a 9-0 run in the next four and half minutes to tie the game at 53-53 on a layup by Brooke Dixon.
With .46 seconds to play, Brown hit another three-pointer to give the Lady Braves a 56-53 advantage.
Strickland scored on a jumper to cut the lead to 56-55 with .17 seconds left in the game but Haynes stepped to the line and hit a pair of free throws to put the game away.
Haynes and Brown combined for 38 of the Lady Braves 58 points. The Lady Braves also got 25 points from their bench.
With the win, the Lady Braves move to 6-11 overall and 5-3 in confernce play with a key SWAC showdown on Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex against Southern University. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 p.m.
