Game Notes | Live Stats
LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program hosts LeMoyne-Owen College Wednesday night at the Davey L. Whitney Complex in the home-opener for the Lady Braves. The game is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start.
The Lady Braves are coming off an 84-77 overtime thriller at Southeastern Louisiana last Friday in the team's season opener. Senior guard Tia Sanders was named the SWAC Player of the Week Tuesday after leading Alcorn in the win over the Lady Lions with a career-high 29 points. Senior forward Miracle Rushing recorded her second career double-double with 12 points and a team-high 14 rebounds. Senior guard Alexus Freeman, the SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, contributed 17 points with four boards, three assists, and a steal.
Alcorn shot 25-69 (.362) from the field, 8-25 (.320) from beyond the arc, and 26-40 (.650) from the free-throw line versus SLU.
The Lady Magicians are off to an 0-2 start after falling at Missouri S&T 93-84 last Friday and suffering a close 67-66 loss to Illinois Springfield on Saturday. LOC is averaging 75.0 points per game while shooting 51-132 (38.6 percent) from the field, 11-35 (31.4 percent) from deep, and 37-56 (66.1 percent) from the charity stripe.
Senior guard Tenesha Wright leads LOC with 22.5 points per game and is the team's top rebounder with 23 boards. Following her in scoring is junior guard Dana Gettis with 19.0 points per contest. Junior guard Shayne Nance and sophomore center Courtney Banks have 13 and 10 rebounds respectively.
Wednesday's game marks the first meeting between the two programs.
NOTES
- Friday's victory marked the first against a non-conference NCAA Division I opponent since a 62-53 win at home over Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 8, 2014. It was also the first season-opening victory against a DI opponent since Nov. 22, 2002 when the Lady Braves defeated Texas State 58-56 in a neutral-site contest in Waco, Texas.
- It was the first time a season-opener went to overtime since Nov. 26, 1993 when the team fell to Auburn 71-66 at the Hobby Hilton Classic in Houston, Texas.
- Rushing's double-double was just the second of her career. She scored 10 points with 13 boards versus Alabama State on Feb. 18 last season. She needed one more charity shot to tie her career mark of seven (at USM, Nov. 25, 2016).
- Sanders' previous career scoring high was 19 points against Mississippi Valley State on Jan. 14, 2017. She tied her career highs in three-point field goals made (5), rebounds (6), and minutes played (40).
- Freeman played a career-high 43 minutes in tonight's contest. She played a full 40 minutes three times last year.
- LOC finished last season 8-17 overall with a 5-11 mark in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA Div. II).
- Wright has earned the most trips to the line for the visitors. She has converted 21-31 (67.7 percent) of her freebies.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
On getting through the first game of the season and shaking off the rust
"I think our mistakes last week were mental. It was our first game and we had some nerves, some rustiness. But playing somebody outside of ourselves, we just had to get going. Those were understandable mistakes, but going back into it we'll be more prepared Wednesday and we'll be at home shooting on our goals."
On other Lady Braves that stood out in the opener
"I really thought that Jada Hargrove did a good job of facilitating. We moved Alexus to the two position so she wouldn't have so much ball-handling responsibilities and I think Jada did a good job of getting us into our sets and having us execute our offense. She just did a lot of intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet."
"Danasia Fennie did an excellent job. She's a walk-on for our team, but she's shown a lot of bright spots in practice lately and she joined us just two weeks ago. She's just getting into her comfort zone and gelling with the team and getting to know the team, on a basketball and personal level. That's going to take some time, but I was pleased with the way she played and the effort she put on the floor. She's going to have some great games moving forward."
On what needs to happen to finish the week 3-0
"Number one is we have to continue to rebound the way we did. We had a lot of missed shots that we should have made, a lot of blown layups, but we've got to finish at the cup. We also have to do better at the free-throw line. We want to shoot at least 75 percent this season. The other night we shot 65. We have to take care of the ball better, continue to score and be consistent on the shots that we're missing, and just have great bench production. We do that and we should get two out of two."
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