JACKSON, Miss. – Jackson State scored 12 unanswered out of the gate and the Alcorn State University women's basketball program could not recover as the Lady Tigers (12-7, 7-3 SWAC) earned a 94-69 win Saturday at the Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center.
Three Lady Braves reached double-digit scoring, led by De'Asia Brown's season-high 15 points off the bench. The junior guard went 6-12 from the field, was a perfect 3-3 at the charity stripe, and added five rebounds. Senior guards Tia Sanders and Alexus Freeman followed with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Alcorn was held to 25-72 (34.7 percent) shooting from the floor, including 3-12 (25.0 percent) from beyond the arc, and 16-33 (48.5 percent) at the free-throw line.
The Lady Tigers capitalized off of early Alcorn miscues to build an early 12-0 lead. The Lady Braves responded with an 8-2 swing, but the hosts went back up by double digits 24-13 at the end of the opening quarter. JSU was close to doubling up Alcorn in the second, outscoring the Lady Braves 20-11. At the break, the home team was in control 44-24.
Both teams had their most productive 10 minutes in a close third quarter. Brown paced Alcorn with seven points, while Freeman and Brianna Tolliver both contributed five points. While the Lady Braves were held to just 7-21 (33.3 percent) shooting in the period, the squad converted 11-15 (73.3 percent) of its free-throws. Unfortunately, the Lady Tigers got hot as well, shooting 13-17 (76.5 percent) from the field and 6-9 (66.7 percent) at the line for 32 points.
The fourth quarter was back-and-forth, with Alcorn just outscoring JSU 19-18. The Lady Tigers had four players in double figures and were paced by Christina Ellis' 31 points. As a team, JSU shot 36-65 (55.4 percent) from the field, 2-4 (50.0 percent) from distance, and 20-27 (74.1 percent) at the stripe.
JSU dominated the specialty stats and led from start to finish. The Lady Tigers were up by as many as 33 with just over two minutes to play in the third quarter.
The team heads to Grambling, La. on Monday for a 5:30 p.m. game with the Lady Tigers in the Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
Notes
- With the win, JSU sweeps Alcorn in the regular season.
- Sanders shot 2-5 from long-range and needs just one more three-pointer to tie her mark of 54 threes in a season, which ranks fifth on the program's single season record list.
- The Lady Braves fall to 4-8 on the road this season, including a 3-3 mark in league play.
- Tolliver picked up a career-high three assists on the night.
- With three steals, Freeman has now recorded 20 consecutive multi-steal games.
Quoting Head Coach Courtney G. Pruitt
On the tough loss
"I'm just disappointed in how we played defense. We got opportunities to get to the free-throw line, but we couldn't connect on that. Everything on the stat line was dead even, though we did allow them to out-rebound us. But we didn't come out and play defense, which killed us tonight. We gave them 94 points. I don't think they earned anything. That's just disappointing after having a great week of practice and not carrying over what you worked on."
On the early miscues
"It was things that we had worked on. Stop going to the sideline, you know they're going to trap you. Making a pass that isn't there and trying to force it. Take what the defense gives you. Just little mental things that, when on the road, you can't afford to make those mistakes."
On Freeman's early foul trouble
"She couldn't get going. They were sending two people at her and trapping her and she really struggled, especially getting into foul trouble. She couldn't find herself, and by the time she did and start to score, the game was pretty much over with. It was out of reach. So it was a frustrating night for her, but you're going to have that and it's on you as the leader of the team. The other team is going to be coming for you. We can't dwell on that. We're still in the middle of the pack, Southern took a fall today 79-71 to Grambling. So we're going to keep our heads up and prepare for Grambling to try to avenge the loss that we took at home three weeks ago."
#FearTheBrave
