LAFAYETTE, La. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program could not overcome a slow start as the Lady Braves fell 67-47 to UL-Lafayette Wednesday at the Cajundome.
Senior guard Alexus Freeman went 3-12 from the floor, including a 1-4 effort from beyond the arc, and made 1-2 at the charity stripe to lead Alcorn in the loss with eight points. She added six rebounds, seven assists, and five steals to her totals.
Following Freeman in scoring were guards Tia Sanders and Cloe Lane with six points apiece. Junior guard De'Asia Brown came off the bench to contribute five, while five other Lady Braves finished with four.
The Ragin' Cajuns (5-7) scored five straight to open the game before junior forward Ugochinyere Nwarie halted the run with a jumper at the 6:20 mark in the first quarter. After a pair of 2-2 efforts at the line by Sklyer Goodwin and Ty'Reonne Doucet made it a 9-2 ULL lead, Freeman drained a three ball for her first points in the game. A Jada Hargrove layup cut the lead to 13-7, but ULL hit a couple of threes to round out the first 10 minutes of action.
In the second, neither team scored until Freeman went 1-2 at the line with 6:05 on the clock. Another 5-0 run pushed the Cajun lead to 24-8 before Lane got a long-range shot to fall. The teams then went back and forth until Brown knocked down a three-pointer to pull Alcorn to within 32-20 (:48). Both teams had looks at the basket but could not get their shots to fall as the first half came to a close.
The Cajuns shot slightly better than the Lady Braves in first 20 minutes, going 11-30 (36.7 percent) from the floor compared to Alcorn's 8-25 (32.0 percent). ULL took advantage of some early Alcorn foul trouble and made 8-10 free-throws in the opening half, whereas the Lady Braves didn't make a lot of trips to the line and went 1-5.
ULL netted 22 points in the third quarter to help solidify its lead. An old-fashioned three-point play by Sanders at the 3:30 mark made it 42-31, but that would be the closest Alcorn would get. The Cajuns used a 6-0 run late in the quarter and went up by as many as 22 midway through the fourth.
Alcorn shot 18-58 (31.0 percent) from the field, 4-16 (25.0 percent) from deep, and 7-14 (50.0 percent) at the free-throw line.
The Cajuns were paced by Doucet's 16-point, 11-rebound double-double. Also in double figures for the hosts were Goodwin with 12 points and Kimberly Burton with 10. ULL shot 24-57 (42.1 percent) on the night, including 2-7 (28.6 percent) from deep, and converted 17-21 (81.0 percent) shots at the line.
ULL controlled most of the specialty stats with more points in the paint (38-20), more points off turnovers (14-11), more second-chance points (14-10), and more points off the bench (29-19). Both teams finished with six fast-break points.
The Lady Braves will finish their non-conference portion of the schedule on Friday, Dec. 19 at Louisiana Tech. The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff at the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La.
NOTES
- Redshirt-sophomore guard Brianna Tolliver, playing in just her third game of the season, set a career high with four steals and set a season high with 16 points. She logged 15 minutes at Wichita State last Saturday.
- Brown, also appearing in her third game this season, scored her first points as a Lady Brave as she shot 2-3 from the floor and scored her lone three-point attempt. The junior guard also set a season high with 22 minutes played.
- It was the first time this season that Alcorn didn't have a player reach double digit scoring.
- Alcorn was charged with eight fouls in the first quarter, while ULL did not get called for a foul until 9:30 to play in the second.
- ULL now leads the all-time series 4-1.
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