HOUSTON, Texas – Texas Southern shot over 57 percent on the night as the Lady Tigers (6-7, 1-1 SWAC) handed the Alcorn State University women's basketball program a 91-57 loss Wednesday at the H&PE Arena.
Senior guards Tia Sanders and Alexus Freeman tallied 15 and 10 points respectively to lead the Lady Braves (5-8, 1-1) in the loss. Senior forward Miracle Rushing and sophomore guard Jada Hargrove contributed seven points each. Rushing led Alcorn on the glass with 10 rebounds.
Alcorn shot 22-73 (30.1 percent) from the field, including 7-28 (25.0 percent) from beyond the arc, and 6-13 (46.2 percent) at the free-throw line.
The hosts got off to a fast start, shooting 11-15 (73.3 percent) from the floor and using a 10-0 run to build an early 23-11 lead. Joyce Kennerson, TSU's leading scorer, scored 13 of her 32 points in the opening quarter. She made 6-8 shots, including a three ball. After the Lady Tigers went up by 19 (34-15) with 6:36 to play in the second, Hargrove knocked down a pair of threes to highlight an 8-0 Alcorn swing. It would be the closest the Lady Braves would get, however, as TSU answered with six straight. The hosts went into the locker room in control, 44-28.
Kennerson got streaky again in the third quarter, this time scoring 11. The Lady Braves got the lead down to 44-30 as Sanders converted a pair of free-throws, but TSU refused to let the visitors back in the game. Alcorn matched its effort from the second with another 17 points, but it wasn't enough as the Lady Tigers netted 24 in the final 10 minutes to secure their first SWAC win of the season.
Kennerson added four rebounds, nine assists, a block, and three steals to her totals. The junior guard went 10-19 from the floor, 1-3 from deep, and converted 11-14 of her shots at the charity stripe. Also scorcing double-digit figures for TSU was Kaitlyn Palmer with 19 points. Camille Mills and Catherine Okwilagwe chipped in nine apiece, and Breasia McElrath was close to a double-double with 10 boards and eight points.
TSU was 33-57 (57.9 percent) from the field, 6-12 (50.0 percent) from deep, and 19-27 (70.4 percent) at the stripe. The hosts controlled the specialty stats, though they committed more turnovers (20-18). The teams also scored 13 second-chance points each. The game featured one tie.
The Lady Braves return to Lorman, Miss. this Saturday as they host Jackson State for a 3 p.m. conference game in the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
Notes
- TSU has now taken the past 11 meetings in the all-times series. Alcorn will look to snap that streak and split this season when it hosts the Lady Tigers on March 3 to conclude the regular season.
- The 91 points are the most by an opponent this season.
- Entering Wednesday's game, Freeman needed just two points to reach 500 career points as a Lady Brave. The Navasota, Texas native reached the mark as she hit a jumper with 8:24 to play in the first half.
- Brianna Tolliver logged a season-high 23 minutes and went 2-3 from deep to finish with six points. The pair of three-pointers also marks a season high.
- Hargrove matched her season high with a 2-4 effort from beyond the arc.
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