Watch | Listen | Live Stats | Alcorn Game Notes
LORMAN, Miss. - Coming off an impressive 70-53 upending of Jackson State University, the Alcorn State University women's basketball program will face Mississippi Valley State University Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex with tipoff scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.
Saturday is High School Day for basketball against MVSU. High School students receive half off admission with a valid student ID or when wearing a high school T-shirt or apparel that identifies a high school. It is only valid for current high school students.
Showing off their range, the Lady Braves (2-13, 2-2 SWAC) converted 6-of-9 treys in the opening half to build a comfortable 12-point lead against the Lady Tigers. Junior Alexus Freeman led all scorers with 18 points including a career-high 10 from the free-throw line. She has a team-high 14.5 points per game in conference play.
Juniors Tia Sanders (12) and Miracle Rushing (11) and freshman Aysha Kirkland (10) joined Freeman in double figures. Kirkland's 10 marked a career high. Senior Henrietta Wells secured her 10th multiple-block contest of the season as she swatted four shot attempts. She fronts the SWAC and ranks 15th among Division I student-athletes with 2.8 blocks per game.Â
Alcorn bested MVSU in all three matchups last season including a 62-43 victory in the SWAC tournament.Â
The Devilettes (7-6, 1-2 SWAC) most recently dropped a 79-73 contest to preseason favorite Alabama State in overtime after winning . MVSU guard Christina Reed recorded the SWAC's first 30-point game this season in the loss.Â
Reed ranks second in league play with 22.0 points per game. Reed has also contributed 7.3 rebounds per contest along with teammate Ashley Beals' 9.0 which ranks second in the SWAC.Â
Reed and Lauren Elliot are in a three-way tie atop the conference with 3.0 steals per game, lifting MVSU to a league-best 13.3 steals per game.Â
The Devilettes won their first two conference games, first at Arkansas-Pine Bluff before topping Alabama A&M in Itta Bena.Â
NOTES
- Junior Tia Sanders has scored in double figures in 11 of 15 games this season. She has a team-high 31 three-pointers this season, shooting .290 from beyond the arc.
- The number 70 has a significant impact on Alcorn's W-L record. The Lady Braves are 8-1 in league play when scoring 70-plus points and 1-5 when allowing 70-plus dating back to last season.
- The top four scorers for the Lady Braves, Tia Sanders (174), Alexus Freeman (126), Brianna Luton (107) and Henrietta Wells (100) have accounted for approximately 62 percent of the team's total scoring this season.
- A key for the Lady Braves in conference games has been to improve their free throw shooting. Oddly enough, their two wins came when shooting less than 60 percent while shooting over that mark in the two losses.
- Alcorn has to improve its third-quarter production. The Lady Braves have are +12 in the first, -1 in the second and +14 in the fourth but have limped to a -28 scoring margin through their first four SWACÂ games.
- The Lady Braves have lost depth due to injuries to Dejah Joshua, Bridgejae Patterson and Brianna Tolliver, who were all considered key players on this year's squad. Joshua and Patterson each participated in one contest this season while Alcorn has been without Tolliver, a double-digit scorer in two of the first five games, for 10 straight games.
#FearTheBrave
