Women's Basketball | 11/5/2018 8:52:00 AM

Lady Braves Welcome Lane College for 2018-19 Season Opener

Alcorn Game Notes | Live Radio | Live Stats

LORMAN, Miss. – The new-look Alcorn State University women's basketball program will begin the 2018-19 season Tuesday by hosting Lane College at 5:30 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
Alcorn (0-0) has eight new faces on the roster this year after losing its top-four leading scorers. Four of the newcomers are JUCO transfers.
 
Junior point guard Jada Hargrove comes back after starting in all 30 games last year. The Lady Braves also return starting post player Jamaysha Bernard for her sophomore year.
 
De'Asia Brown is the lone senior on the team. She was a significant contributor off the bench last year and registered four double-figure scoring games. Brown netted a career-high 15 points at Jackson State on Feb. 3, 2018.
 
Alcorn also gets back redshirt-sophomore Aysha Kirkland who missed last season due to injury. Kirkland logged 552 minutes and made four starts as a freshman in 2016-17.
 
Alcorn was predicted to finish eighth in the SWAC Preseason Poll. The Lady Braves ended in sixth in the standings last year.
 
Lane College (0-0) is coming off a 5-22, 5-12 SIAC record last season. The Lady Dragons return their leading scorer, senior guard Antrice McCoy, who averaged 11.9 points last year. She was also the team leader in assists and steals.
 
 It will be the first-ever meeting between Alcorn and Lane.
 
Tuesday's game can be heard on the radio on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond on the call.
 
NOTES
- The Lady Braves will look to start 1-0 for the second year in a row after knocking off Southeastern Louisiana 84-77 (OT) on the road last year.
 
- Alcorn is 2-1 in home-openers under head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. Last season, the team downed Lemoyne-Owen 81-54. In Pruitt's first year, the Lady Braves opened the season at home with a 66-57 victory over Delta State.
 
- The Lady Braves led the SWAC in three-pointers made last year with 5.8 per game. They finished second in the league in three-point percentage (.298), steals (11.4 spg) and offensive rebounding (14.7 orpg).
 
- Pruitt enters her fourth season at the helm. She made an immediate impact when she took over and coached Norianna Haynes to the 2015-16 SWAC Player of the Year honor. The following year in 2016-17, she coached Henrietta Wells to SWAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades and Alexus Freeman to SWAC Newcomer of the Year. Pruitt coached Wells in becoming the program's all-time leading shot blocker with 242.
 
- On Pruitt's coaching staff are Ta'Neil Lewis and E. Todd Moore. Lewis came from Wiley College where she assisted the team to a pair of NAIA National Tournament appearances including a Final Four, and two Red River Athletic Conference Titles. Moore has over 20 years of coaching experience including Division I stints at South Carolina State, Savannah State, Cincinnati and Morgan State.
 
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