Hot Shooting Miners Get Past Alcorn

EL PASO, Texas – The shooting percentages told the tale Saturday evening as a hot shooting UTEP squad topped a cold shooting Alcorn State University women's basketball program 77-51 Saturday night at the Don Haskins Center.
 
The Lady Braves (0-2) shot .302 (16-53) from the field and .214 (3-14) from beyond-the-arc. UTEP (1-0) on the other hand posted a .526 (30-57) percentage from the field and .500 (6-12) mark from long range.
 
Alcorn was guided by junior Jada Hargrove who tallied 10 points, four assists and three steals. She was 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Junior Toddriana Isler ended with eight points.
 
The Lady Braves outscored the Miners in bench points 24-20. Junior Kyler Wyatt netted seven points, while junior Charisma Walker notched six points and seven rebounds.
 
UTEP saw Zuzanna Puc score 18 points and grab seven rebounds. Ariona Gill finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. Katarina Zec nearly had a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
 
Isler scored the first bucket of the game on a jumper, but the Miners responded with a big 12-0 run to take an early 12-2 lead. Alcorn answered with three-pointers by freshman Alexia Hood and Hargrove to get the deficit down to 15-10, and UTEP led 18-12 at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Lady Braves went cold in the second as they shot 4-for-15 (.267) from the field and 0-for-2 from three-point range. UTEP was able to capitalize and go up by as many as 14 with 3:49 left. A last-second jumper by sophomore Kirdis Clark had Alcorn down 37-25 at the break.
 
The Miners came out on fire in the third and opened with a 10-0 run to extend the lead to 45-25. Alcorn trailed 56-31 when senior De'Asia Brown scored in the paint, Clark hit a pair of free throws and Wyatt made a lay-up for a 7-0 spurt to trail 56-37.
 
Though, UTEP went on a 9-0 run early in the fourth to go up 69-41 and pull away. The Lady Braves fought until the end, and a jumper by Isler with 1:46 to go had them down 74-51.
 
The Lady Braves will return home Thursday, Nov. 15 when they host Southeastern Louisiana at 5:30 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. Alcorn beat SLU last season on the road 84-77 in overtime.
 
NOTES
 - The Lady Braves dropped to 0-4 all-time against UTEP, but it was the first meeting under Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt.
 
- Hargrove, who has started in every game over the last two seasons, tallied her seventh career double-figure scoring game. It was also her second in a row after she totaled 11 points in the season-opener against Lane College. She's averaging 10.5 points and 4.5 assists per game so far this year.
 
- Alcorn out-blocked UTEP 5-1. Walker swatted away three shots, while Clark rejected a pair. The Lady Braves also held a big 14-3 advantage in steals as they forced 27 turnovers in the contest.
 
- Alcorn outscored the Miners 27-24 in points off turnovers.
 
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