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GRAMBLING, La. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program enters the 2018 SWAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 Grambling State in a 6:30 p.m. quarterfinal game Tuesday at the Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
Senior guard Alexus Freeman and senior forward Miracle Rushing were named to the All-SWAC Second team Monday. Freeman leads the team with 15.2 points per game, started all 29 games this season, and reached double-digit scoring in 22 contests. Rushing recorded nine double-doubles, made 28 starts, and leads the Lady Braves (12-17, 8-10 SWAC) on the glass with 245 boards. Senior guard Tia Sanders is second in scoring with 14.3 points and junior guard Cloe Lane owns 13 blocks.
Alcorn is shooting 695-1849 (37.6 percent) from the field, including 169-567 (29.8 percent) from beyond the arc, and 312-524 (59.5 percent) at the free-throw line. The Purple and Gold average 64.5 points (-5.6) with 36.8 rebounds (-5.3), 12.3 assists, 19.6 turnovers, 11.4 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game.
"We were unsuccessful in our two battles during the regular season, but they say the third times a charm," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "You definitely have to take those two games into consideration to see what you did wrong and where your mistakes were made at. But we've got to see the most recent games that they've played in to see what they're doing different, see if anything has changed because we want to get that victory in the first round."
The Lady Tigers (16-13, 13-5) secured the No. 3 seed in the SWAC Tournament with a 73-52 win at Alabama State on Saturday. Shakyla Hill posted a 29-point, 10-rebound double-double with three assists and a steal. Jazmin Boyd added 24 points with four boards and a steal.
Hill leads the team in scoring (16.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg) and was named to the All-SWAC First Team. Also averaging double figures are Deja McKinney with 12.2 points, Boyd at 12.0, and Monisha Neal at 10.2. Boyd has 29 threes, Hill owns 137 steals, and Kailyn Gideon leads the league with 64 blocks.
GSU averages 66.4 points (-0.8) with 35.7 rebounds (-8.3), 13.1 assists, 17.9 turnovers, 11.2 steals, and 3.8 blocks per contest. The team shoots 685-1734 (39.5 percent) from the floor, 152-505 (30.1 percent) from distance, and 428-642 (66.7 percent) at the charity stripe.
The Lady Tigers swept the regular season for the second year in a row and has now won four straight in the all-time series. Lane finished with a team-high 14 points to lead Alcorn in the last game on Feb. 5. She added three rebounds and a pair of steals in the loss. De'Asia Brown flirted with a double-double as she netted 11 points and led the Lady Braves on the glass with a season-high eight boards.
The winner of Tuesday's game will play the winner of the No. 2 Texas Southern/No. 7 Alabama State matchup in a 6 p.m. semifinal held at the Delmar Center in Houston, Texas on Friday. The women's championship game is slated for 12:30 p.m. tipoff on Saturday.
Notes
- With the win over TSU Saturday, Alcorn snapped the Lady Tigers' 11-game winning streak in the series and splits the regular season.
- Sanders made 1-11 from distance and now has 68 threes on the season to grab sole possession of second place on the program's single season record list. The Pensacola, Fla. native needs one more to tie the all-time mark of 69, set by Kierra Levy in 2002-03.
- TSU did not grab a steal in the contest, marking a season low by an opponent. The visitors also set season lows in free-throws made (4) and free-throw attempts (6).
- Joyce Kennerson, who is the league's league scorer and entered the game averaging 24.6 points, was held to just 13 points.
- Alcorn has now reached the SWAC Tournament in nine consecutive seasons.
- The Lady Braves fell 75-68 in the first meeting this season on Jan. 8 in Lorman, Miss. The team fought back from an 18-point deficit to within three at the end of the third quarter, but GSU was able to hold on. Sanders tallied 26 points with eight rebounds, four assists, and a pair of steals to lead Alcorn in the loss. Freeman followed with 19 points and Brianna Tolliver approached a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.
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