GRAMBLING, La. – A closely contested game just didn't end in favor of the Alcorn State University women's basketball program as Grambling State finished on top 61-56 Monday at the Hobdy Assembly Center.
Alcorn (2-14, 1-3 SWAC) trailed 35-30 in the third quarter when it used a huge 13-0 run to take a 10-point lead. The Lady Braves carried a 45-38 advantage in the fourth quarter, but defending SWAC Tournament champion GSU (6-10, 3-1 SWAC) quickly tied it early in the fourth.
A back-and-forth final quarter was tied with under three minutes remaining, but the Tigers were able to make more plays down the stretch to snatch away the win.
Senior
De'Asia Brown poured in 19 points to match her career-high. She was one of two Lady Braves to play all 40 minutes along with junior
Jada Hargrove who tallied 13 points.
Junior
Charisma Walker also turned in double-figures with 13 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore
Jamaysha Bernard pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.
The Lady Braves out-rebounded the Tigers 45-37. GSU has a non-conference win this season over Indiana.
GSU was guided by Shakyla Hill's 15 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Hill entered the game leading the conference in scoring with over 18 points a game.
The Lady Braves led 7-4 early after a three-pointer by Hargrove and a fast-break lay-up by sophomore
Aysha Kirkland. After the Tigers scored the next two baskets, Alcorn answered with a drive by Walker and a jumper by Brown to go up 11-8. Though, GSU recorded the final five points of the quarter including a three-pointer by Jazmin Boyd in the closing seconds to jump ahead 13-11 at the end of the first.
Alcorn scored the first bucket of the second on a lay-up by Kirkland, but the Tigers responded with a 10-0 run to lead 23-13 with 4:43 to go. Inside buckets by Walker, Bernard and Brown made it a 26-21 game at the 1:37 mark. A fadeaway jumper by Brown at the buzzer trimmed the deficit to 29-25 at the intermission.
The Tigers extended their lead to 33-25 early in the third, but the Lady Braves punched back with a jumper by Brown. GSU was ahead 35-30 when Alcorn went on a huge 13-0 run which included a put-back by sophomore
Kirdis Clark to catapult ahead 45-35 late in the period. The Tigers scored the last three points of the quarter, but the Lady Braves were on top 45-38 heading to the fourth.
GSU quickly cut the deficit to 45-44 within the first two minutes of the fourth after scoring off turnovers. The Tigers took the lead 48-46 on a lay-up by Justice Coleman with 6:37 to go. Alcorn evened it at 52 on a pair of free throws by Hargrove with 2:59 remaining.
GSU regained the lead 54-52 after a block led to a fast-break lay-up at the 1:27 mark. After one of two free throws were made by Walker, the Tigers garnered a lay-up by Hill to lead 56-53 with 44 seconds left. GSU forced a turnover on the ensuing Alcorn possession and netted a pair of free throws to lead 58-53 with 26.1 seconds remaining.
Alcorn will return to the Davey L. Whitney Complex at 3 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Mississippi Valley State. The Lady Braves have won seven of the last eight meetings against the Delta Devilettes.
NOTES
- The Lady Braves entered the game leading the SWAC in offensive rebounding with 16.4 per game and will improve upon their tally with 21 in the contest. Bernard secured six offensive boards, while Walker grabbed four.
- Alcorn's 13-0 run in the third quarter was the most consecutive points the team has scored in a game this year.
- Brown has scored at least 14 points in every conference game. It was the third time this year she scored 19 points, and her eight made field goals were a career-high. Brown etched her 14th career double-figure scoring game and 10th this year. It was her second 40-minute game.
- Hargrove, who logs a conference-high 34.6 minutes per game, played 40 minutes for the third time this year. It was her 13th career double-digit outing and eighth this season.
- Walker notched her ninth double-figure scoring game of the year. It was the sixth time that she pulled down at least eight rebounds.
- Bernard's 11 rebounds topped her previous best of seven set twice last year.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
Opening Statement
"I liked the way we came out of the gates tonight. In the third quarter, we started out slow and took a timeout. We then went on a run immediately and were scoring the ball. After that, I just remember one turnover after another. We only had one timeout left as it was all unraveling and we were just trying to fight through it. We fought so hard to tie the game and take the lead in the third, but we let it slip away. I was disappointed in our lack of focus in the fourth quarter. We handled pressure so well in the first half and proved we could play with them, and I know we could do better. We saw the great moments, but that's a part of being a young team and it's something we have to work on."
On her thoughts moving forward with this team
"As we saw tonight, we have a great basketball team at times. We improved a lot since Saturday and fixed a lot of things that were broken. We handled adversity and put ourselves in a great position to win, but we just stopped doing what was working. We know we have five freshmen out there and we're going to get better. We were leading the preseason favorite by 10 points tonight and it fell out of our hands in the fourth quarter. We'll come back and start preparing for tough Mississippi Valley and Arkansas-Pine Bluff teams."
#FearTheBrave
