LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball rebounded from a hard-fought loss to Mississippi Valley State Saturday by cruising to a 76-58 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff Monday night at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
Senior guard Alexus Freeman led the Lady Braves (10-14, 6-7 SWAC) with 22 points on the night. The Navasota, Texas native shot 9-19 from the floor, including a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc, and went 1-2 at the free-throw line. She grabbed four rebounds and added five assists and a pair of steals to her totals.
Also finishing in double figures were senior guard Tia Sanders with 11 points and junior forward Ugochinyere Nwarie with a season-high 10 points off the bench. Senior forward led the team on the glass with a game-high 16 boards and flirted with a double-double, netting nine points.
Alcorn went 27-65 (41.5 percent) from the field, 6-14 (42.9 percent) from long distance, and 16-24 (66.7 percent) at the charity stripe.
The opening quarter was a close, low-scoring affair. Arkansas-Pine Bluff scored the first two buckets and Malik Muhammad followed a Freeman score with a three ball to give the Lady Lions (5-18, 3-10 SWAC) an early 7-2 lead. Alcorn would respond with six straight, capped by a Sanders long ball, but Faith Ohanta went 1-2 at the line to knot the game at 8-8 with 5:00 on the clock. After another tie at 10-10, Freeman knocked down a trey and UAPB's Kye Richardson put up a layup and Alcorn took a narrow 13-12 advantage into the second.
Sophomore guard Jada Hargrove opened the next quarter with a good shot from distance and freshman forward Danasia Fennie converted a pair of freebies to push Alcorn's lead to 18-12. The Lady Braves would add runs of 6-0 and 7-0 to create some separation, 33-18 with 3:21 to play in the first half. The visitors would then close out the remaining 2:40 with a 7-3 spurt and Alcorn went into the locker room in control, 36-25.
The Lady Lions got going in the third quarter. UAPB held the Purple and Gold scoreless for over four and a half minutes, scoring 10 straight to pull to within 42-40. It would be the closest the guests would get, however, as Alcorn finally answered with an 8-0 run of its own. The teams then traded trips to the line and Alcorn took a 51-43 lead into the final 10 minutes.
UAPB could not recover in the fourth quarter, and Alcorn went back up by double digits with 60 percent shooting. Freeman hit a pair of threes and added a jumper, scoring eight of her 22 in the final period. Ohanta and Muhammad each converted a pair of freebies late as UAPB pulled to within 68-55, but with only two minutes to play the lead proved too large to overcome.
The Lady Braves scored more points off turnovers (19-7), more second-chance points (10-9), and more points off the bench (29-25). The team also committed fewer turnovers (10-28) and grabbed more steals (11-4). The game featured two ties and just one lead change. Alcorn led by as many as 19 (:32 in the 4th).
Alcorn heads to Alabama next weekend for a 5:30 p.m. contest at Alabama A&M. The Lady Braves then head to Montgomery, Ala. a week from today for a 7 p.m. game at Alabama State.
Notes
- Freeman was a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc, marking the first game she's shot 100 percent from distance this season.
- With her two steals, Freeman has now played 23 straight games with multiple steals.
- Four Lady Braves were perfect at the line: Sanders went 4-4, while Fennie, Nwarie, and junior guard De'Asia Brown were all 2-2.
- Sanders now has 61 threes on the season. The Pensacola, Fla. Transplant needs two more to tie for third on the program's single-season record and eight more to tie with Kierra Levy's mark of 69, set in 2002-03.
- Sanders set a career high with six assists.
- In addition to her high in scoring, Nwarie shot 4-10 from the field to set a best in field goals made.
- Rushing tied her career high as she pulled down 16 boards for the second game in a row. She's reached the mark three times in her career. She also tied another high with two blocks, the third time she's done so this season.
- Fennie made her second start as a Lady Brave. Her first was on Feb. 5 at Grambling State.
- With the victory, Alcorn sweeps the Lady Lions for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
Quoting Head Coach Courtney G. Pruitt
On giving up the early lead
We allowed them to get them back in the game. We had some foul trouble in the second half where we had to make some substitutions and we dropped off defensively. But we were able to get back to scoring, call a timeout, curb that real quick, and we just kept running.
On building an early 15-point lead
I think we did a good job of executing our press and converting our turnovers into instant offense. Also, another key that we did tonight was that we took care of the ball. I noticed at halftime we only had four turnovers and we finished with 10 total.
On UAPB winning the battle on the glass
They out-rebounded us 50-35. That was a big heart-breaker for me because I've really been harping on rebounds, but we were just able to put it together. We shot well from the floor and we shot it well from the three. We took care of it, so maybe we didn't have to rebound as much. We were able to turn them over and I'm just pleased overall with our team effort.
On Freeman's effort
She's really been in the gym working on her mid-range shot. She did an excellent job, I think she was almost 50 percent from the floor tonight, which I'm very pleased with her shooting effort. She shot the three ball well, which we've been talking about all season long, and then she also got her teammates involved with five assists and only two turnovers. She ran the point guard for the majority of the night because Hargrove was in foul trouble and she still managed to get two steals. So I'm very pleased with Alexus' effort. She did an excellent job tonight.
#FearTheBrave
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