USM Pulls Away from Alcorn in Fourth Quarter

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program fell behind early and, despite a big third quarter, couldn't catch back up Tuesday evening in a 66-47 final to Southern Miss at Reed Green Coliseum.
 
Southern Miss (6-3) opened the game on a 10-2 run and led by 14 at half. Alcorn (1-7) made a push in the third quarter to get the deficit down to seven, but the Golden Eagles used a big fourth to pull away.
 
Junior Toddriana Isler led the Lady Braves in scoring with 13 points and four steals. Fellow junior Charisma Walker came off the bench to turn in a solid 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Senior De'Asia Brown also reached double-figures with 12 points.
 
For the second time this year, Jada Hargrove played all 40 minutes. She tallied six points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds.
 
USM was paced by Respect Leaphart who totaled a game-high 17 points. Megan Brown scored 13 points and Allie Kennedy 12.
 
The Golden Eagles grabbed their early lead by shooting 7-for-10 (.700) from the field in the first quarter, compared to Alcorn's 4-for-14 (.286). A pair of jumpers by sophomore Jamaysha Bernard highlighted the scoring for the Lady Braves early.
 
USM was ahead 24-8 early in the second when Walker nailed a jumper and three-pointer to make it a 24-13 game with 7:20 left. The margin remained 26-15 with 4:21 to go after a pair of free throws by Hargrove. The Golden Eagles extended their lead back out to 34-18 late in the half, but a jumper by Isler in the closing seconds made it a 34-20 game at the intermission.
 
USM led 40-26 in the third when Isler hit back-to-back jumpers and Hargrove drained a long-ball to trim the deficit to 40-33 with 3:32 remaining. A pair of free throws by Brown kept it at 42-35 at the 2:48 mark. Brown drilled a three-pointer late in the quarter as Alcorn trailed 46-38 heading into the fourth.
 
The Golden Eagles opened the fourth quarter on a 12-0 run in the first five minutes to take control of the contest.
 
The Lady Braves will next take the court Monday when they return home to face Rust College at 5:30 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
NOTES
- Isler netted her fifth double-figure scoring game of the season and fourth in the last five games. She was 6-of-13 from the floor. Isler's four steals matched her career-high.
 
- Brown submitted her ninth career double-digit scoring outing, fifth this year and third in a row. She was 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond-the-arc.
 
- Walker has now scored in double-figures six times this year and in four consecutive games. She entered the game leading the SWAC in rebounding (7.9 rpg) and was just under her average with six.
 
- Alcorn dropped to 3-7 all-time against USM.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
On what was working in the third quarter but not the fourth
"We were shooting the ball well. We were rolling on all cylinders and getting stops on defense. On offense, we were executing and knocking down shots. I was very pleased with the way the girls came out in the third and we were almost unstoppable. But then in the fourth, it was like we ran into a wall. We could not score to save our lives, and it was amazing how the game changed that fast. This was one of the best ball games I've seen us play but we couldn't get over the hump. We're getting into a groove with our rotation and we got a lot better today."
 
On the free throw shooting
"We work on it every day and we have mandatory free throw shooting before practice. We block off time to do it. Sooner or later it's going to pay off. To me, it's all mental for us right now. We've tried a number of new things but it's something we're going to continue working on. Until we get the percentages up, we're going to keep working on it."
 
On her overall thoughts of the game
"We played a really tough Conference USA team and I was very proud to only be down by seven going into the fourth quarter. We cut the halftime deficit in half, shot the ball well and executed. I feel we had an opportunity to win this game had we not gone on a scoring drought in the fourth quarter. This was some of the best basketball I've seen us play and we definitely got better as a team."
 
#FearTheBrave