Lady Jags Pull Away From Alcorn in Fourth Quarter

LORMAN, Miss. – After an even first quarter, Southern took over with a 20-point second and outscored the Alcorn State University women's basketball program 21-8 in the final 10 minutes as the Lady Braves (11-16, 7-9 SWAC) dropped a 75-55 contest Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
Senior guard Alexus Freeman made 9-18 on the night, including a 2-5 effort from long-range, and went a perfect 2-2 at the free-throw line to finish with a team-high 22 points. She added a pair of boards and logged 30 minutes. Junior guard Cloe Lane was the only other Lady Brave to reach double figures as she posted 13 points off the bench. The Kansas City, Kan. native hit 5-7 from the floor, including 3-5 from distance, and added four rebounds with a block in 15 minutes of action. Sophomore guard Jada Hargrove contributed five points and four rebounds with three assists and two steals.
 
The Lady Braves shot 22-59 (37.3 percent) from the floor, including 6-22 (27.3 percent) from beyond the arc, and 5-8 (62.5 percent) at the free-throw line.
 
Alcorn opened the scoring with a Freeman three-pointer and a Hargrove layup, but a Samantha Duncan three-ball highlighted a 9-3 swing by the visitors. After trading the lead several times, a 5-0 run by the Lady Braves put them on top 17-13. SU knotted the score at 17-17 with just over a minute left and the teams traded late buckets to end the first quarter.
 
SU took over in the second courtesy of a 16-2 run that gave the Lady Jags a 39-26 advantage with 2:22 left in the first half. Lane snapped a three-minute Alcorn scoring drought with a jumper at the 1:19 mark, then knocked down a trey with :18 on the clock and the teams went into the break with the guests up 39-31.
 
The Lady Braves did outscore SU 16-15 in the third quarter and pulled to within 52-47 on another Lane deep ball with less than a minute on the clock, but Courtney Parsons scored a jumper and SU went into the final 10 minutes ahead 54-47.
 
Freeman twice cut the visitor lead down to five points, making a pair of charity shots to close the gap 56-51 with 7:35 left in the game. Unfortunately, the Lady Jags took off again, pushing their lead to double digits with a 17-2 run that took the clock down to 1:45. The teams then traded baskets for the final tally.
 
SU controlled all of the specialty stats. Both teams pulled down 34 rebounds.
 
The game featured two ties and seven lead changes. Southern led by as many as 20 with 1:45 remaining in the game, while Alcorn held its largest lead by five with 8:36 left in the first quarter.
 
Alcorn returns to host Prairie View A&M in a 5:30 p.m. game next Thursday and will conclude the regular season in a 3 p.m. home contest versus Texas Southern next Saturday.
 
NOTES
 
- SU missed just one shot at the line as the Lady Jags shot 14-15 (93.3 percent).
 
- The Lady Jags outscored the Lady Braves 21-8 in the final quarter
 
- Freeman entered the game ranked fifth in the nation in steals per game (3.77) and sixth in steals (98), but did not grab one for the second time this season and second time in three games.
 
- Alcorn entered the game second in the nation in three-point field goal defense (25.8 percent), but will drop in the rankings as SU knocked down 5-11 (45.5 percent) from deep.
 
- Lane recorded Alcorn's lone block, marking the tenth time she has made one this season.
 
- The loss marked the first time since Jan. 31, 2015 that the Lady Braves have fallen to the Lady Jags on their home court.
 
- SU sweeps the regular season series for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
 
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