LORMAN, Miss. – After wrestling back the lead with a 21-point third quarter, the Alcorn State University women's basketball program could not hold off Mississippi Valley State down the stretch as the Devilettes (2-22, 2-10 SWAC) took a close affair 62-61 Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
With Alcorn ahead 47-42 at the end of the third quarter, MVSU closed the gap late in the fourth with consecutive makes by Sydney Floyd and LaKendra Bassett. After redshirt-sophomore guard Brianna Tolliver went the length of the court for a score, Kristy Parker answered with a layup as the Devilettes trailed 60-56 with just over a minute to play. Kenya Arnold made it a 60-59 game with :24 on the clock with a 1-2 effort at the stripe and a layup. Senior guard Alexus Freeman then went 1-2 at the line, but Parker was fouled on her made layup to knot the score at 61-61 with 13 seconds left. Alcorn had possession but turned over the ball, and the Lady Braves sent Arnold to the line with just over two seconds to play. The sophomore missed the first shot but made the second and the Devilettes won 62-61 to split the regular season series.
Senior guard Tia Sanders made 6-13 (46.2 percent) from beyond the arc and 1-3 (33.3 percent) at the free-throw line to finish with a team-high 19 points. Senior forward Miracle Rushing posted her eighth double-double of the season as she scored 14 and tied her career high with 16 rebounds. Freeman contributed nine points and junior forward Ugochinyere Nwarie added a career-high eight points off the bench.
Alcorn went 23-60 (38.3 percent) on the night, including 7-26 (26.9 percent) from distance, and 8-15 (53.3 percent) at the free-throw line.
The game was close early as the teams traded three-pointers to open the scoring. Freeman hit a mid-range jumper as Alcorn led 7-5 at the first media timeout (4:40), but Floyd knocked down a three from up top to ignite a 9-2 run by the visitors. After a Floyd layup made it 18-10, Nwarie sank both of her free throws to wrap up the first 10 minutes of action.
In the second, the teams went back-and-forth before Floyd connected from deep again to make it 25-18 at the 5:53 mark. Bassett pushed the visitor's lead to double digits 30-20 with a three from the left corner, but sophomore guard Jada Hargrove and Sanders answered with back-to-back threes. Bassett then banked a long ball off the glass to beat the buzzer and the Devilettes went into the break ahead 33-26.
Alcorn stormed back in the third quarter. Sanders made another pair of threes and the Lady Braves wrestled back control 38-37 at the 4:42 media timeout. Nwarie then capped off the 8-0 run with a turnaround jumper in the lane. Parker scored MVSU's first basket in nearly two minutes to make it a one-point game, but the Lady Braves scored another seven unanswered. Parker then earned three the hard way as the teams went into the final quarter.
MVSU had three Devilettes reach double figures, led by Parker's 21 points. Floyd followed with 15, while Bassett was flirted with a triple-double as she totaled 14 points with 11 assists and a team-high nine boards. The visitors shot 25-64 (39.1 percent) from the floor, 6-13 (46.2 percent) from long-range, and 6-17 (35.3 percent) from the charity stripe.
The Lady Braves scored more second-chance (20-9) and fast-break points (14-12), but the Devilettes won the battle in the paint (30-24) and had more bench production (15-10). Both teams netted 17 points off turnovers and matched each other on the glass with 44 boards apiece. - Alcorn committed fewer turnovers (18-19) and grabbed more steals (12-9).
The game featured three ties and four lead changes. MVSU's led by as many as 10 (2:29 in the second), while Alcorn's largest lead was by eight (:33 in the third).
UAPB comes to the Whitney Complex on Monday as the Lady Braves host the Lady Lions for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
Notes
- With her six threes in the game, Sanders has now made 60 on the season and moves into fourth place on the program's single-season record list. The Pensacola, Fla. native needs nine more to tie the record of 69, set by Kierra Levy in 2002-03.
- In addition to her double-double, Rushing matched her career high as she recorded a pair of blocks for just the second time. The Meridian, Miss. product had two blocks in Alcorn's Jan. 20 win over Alabama A&M.
- Freeman grabbed four steals to push her multi-steal games streak to 22.
- It was MVSU's first win over the Lady Braves since Feb. 15, 2014 and first at the Whitney Complex since Jan. 18, 2014.
- Alcorn falls to 5-3 on its home court, including a 2-3 mark in conference play.
- The Lady Braves recorded six blocks, their second-highest total of the season. The team had seven against Alabama A&M.
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