BATON ROUGE, La. – Down 15 toward the end of the third quarter, the Alcorn State University women's basketball program pulled to within three but fell to Southern 64-56 Saturday at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
Senior guards Alexus Freeman and Tia Sanders both finished with 11 points to lead the Lady Braves (9-11, 5-4 SWAC) in the loss. Senior forward Miracle Rushing was close to a double-double with nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while junior guard Cloe Lane scored nine points off the bench.
Alcorn went 23-50 (46.0 percent) from the field, 6-19 (31.6 percent) from three-point range, and 4-16 (25.0 percent) at the charity stripe.
The first half was a close affair as the Lady Brave took an early 8-4 lead on a Sanders three-pointer, but the host would respond with a 10-1 swing to go up 14-9 with 1:55 remaining in the first. Freeman then knocked down a long ball and the teams remained scoreless over the remaining 1:35 as the Lady Jaguars (9-9, 8-1 SWAC) led 14-12 going into the second quarter. Lane put Alcorn back on top with a shot from distance, but the hosts took off with eight unanswered. A 6-0 Lady Brave run made it a one-point game with 3:20 left in the opening half, but SU held on and took a 30-27 edge into the locker rooms.
In the third quarter, SU held Alcorn to just 10 points as the Lady Braves shot 5-12 from the floor and struggled at the line. The Lady Jaguars pushed their lead to 50-35 with just :12 left before freshman forward Jamaysha Bernard scored a layup. Alcorn stormed back in the final 10 minutes, though, as the team shot over 53 percent, including 2-8 from beyond the arc. Lane capped off a 6-0 run to close the gap 57-54 with just over two minutes to play, but SU made 5-6 at the stripe to hang on.
The Lady Braves scored more second-chance points (12-10) and won the battle on the glass (36-33). The game featured two ties and four lead changes, with Southern in control for most of the game (32:56).
The team has a week off before a 3 p.m. contest against the Lady Tigers in Jackson State's Willams Athletic & Assembly Center.
NOTES
- Saturday marked the sixth game in a row Freeman has reached double-digit scoring, while Sanders has done so in seven of the team's last eight games.
- Freeman grabbed three steals on the night, marking her 19th consecutive multi-steal performance. The Navasota, Texas native had one steal in the season-opener at Southeastern Louisiana.
- Rushing collected multiple steals for the third time in four games.
- SU came into the game leading the conference in free-throw shooting at 71.1 percent and made 16-19 shots at the line.
- The Lady Jaguars have now won three straight against the Lady Braves.
- Alcorn is 5-4 at the midway point in league play.
- The teams meet again in Lorman, Miss. on Feb. 24 in a 3 p.m. tipoff at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
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