LORMAN, Miss. – Career-highs in both points and rebounds from sophomore
Jamaysha Bernard propelled the Alcorn State University women's basketball program to a 73-63 victory over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
Bernard finished with 15 points and a whopping 17 rebounds to guide the Lady Braves (3-14, 2-3 SWAC). She was a perfect six-for-six from the field and also registered two blocks and a pair of steals.
Bernard's 17 rebounds are tied for the most by a student-athlete in the SWAC in a single-game this season.
Alcorn trailed MVSU (3-12, 2-2 SWAC) by one at the half when it come out and out-scored the Delta Devilettes 21-15 in the third quarter and 15-10 in the fourth. The 73 points in the game marked a season-high for the team.
Bernard was one of four Lady Braves in double-figures. Senior
De'Asia Brown ended with a game-high 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. Sophomore
Kirdis Clark tallied a career-high 15 points, four rebounds and four assists. Freshman
Diamond Hall neared a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
MVSU was led by Desiray Mosley's 14 points. LaKendra Bassett submitted 10 points and seven rebounds.
For the game, the Lady Braves shot .445 (28-61) from the field and limited the Delta Devilettes to a .375 (27-72) mark. Alcorn also out-rebounded MVSU 45-33.
The Delta Devilettes came out hot and built a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes after a pair of three-pointers. The Lady Braves trailed 12-6 when Bernard converted a lay-up and junior
Jada Hargrove drilled a long-range shot to cut it to 12-11 at the 1:57 mark. Alcorn took the lead 16-14 on a three by Hall with 30 seconds left. A jumper by Brown in the closing seconds kept the Lady Braves up 18-15 at the end of the first.
Alcorn extended the lead t0 27-19 with 6:55 to go in the second after a runner by Clark. Still ahead 30-22, MVSU responded with a 6-0 run to trim it to 30-28. The Delta Devilettes took the lead 38-37 after scoring the final four points of the half including a lay-up by Bassett with 25 seconds.
After MVSU scored the first bucket of the third quarter, Alcorn answered with a jumper by freshman
Bria Broughton and a three by Brown to go back ahead 42-40. The Delta Devilettes tied on a lay-up by Nyla Smith, and took the lead 50-47 on a three by Sydnie Ward with 4:10 remaining. Still down 53-49, Alcorn ended the quarter on a pivotal 9-0 run which included five points by Clark to carry a 58-53 advantage heading into the fourth.
A pair of jumpers by Bernard had Alcorn in front 65-55 with 7:04 left in the game. The Lady Braves took their largest lead 67-55 on a jumper by Brown at the 6:01 mark. MVSU put up a fight down the stretch and cut it to 67-63 with 2:40 to go, but Alcorn scored the final six points of the game. The Lady Braves were four-for-four at the free throw line in the final minute including a pair by both Brown and Bernard.
The Lady Braves will remain at home Monday when they welcome Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 5:30 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. Alcorn swept the season series over UAPB last year including a 76-58 win at home. The Lady Braves are 4-2 against the Golden Lions under head coach
Courtney G. Pruitt.
NOTES
- Alcorn has now won eight of the last nine meetings against MVSU. The Lady Braves are 7-1 against the Delta Devilettes under Pruitt.
- The Lady Braves drained a season-high eight three-pointers.
- Bernard became the fourth different Lady Brave to tally a double-double in a game this season along with Hall and juniors
Toddriana Isler and
Charisma Walker. Bernard's previous career-highs were 10 points against Prairie View A&M and 11 rebounds vs. Grambling State this season. It was her second career double-figure scoring game and second career double-digit rebounding outing.
- Brown has scored at least 14 points in every conference game this year. She played 39 minutes and was four-for-four at the charity stripe. It was her 15th career double-figure scoring game, 11th this year and fifth in a row. Her five assists were a career-high.
- Clark topped her previous career-high of 13 points set at Jackson State last weekend. She's scored in double-figures four times this year and three times in the last four games. Clark was 6-for-10 from the floor and three-for-five from long range.
- Hall was one point shy of her career-high of 13 points set at Northwestern State. Her five assists were a career-high. Hall reached double-figures in scoring for the fourth time this year. She was four-of-nine from the field and three-of-five from beyond-the-arc.
- Starting post-player Isler sat out for the fourth consecutive game due to injury. Isler leads the team with 6.8 rebounds per game with three double-doubles.
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
Opening Statement
"It may have been a great game to watch, but it's not a fun game for us when we don't keep our focus. We knew MVSU was good at shooting the three, so we worked to get them to take shots they weren't comfortable with. We got rebounds and capitalized on them, but I just didn't like that we couldn't stay focused. Once we gained the lead, we didn't maintain it. That's something we have to get better at. Once we finally do that we'll definitely come out on top. We were playing young because Jada got in a little foul trouble. I'm very pleased how we shot the ball tonight. We shot free throws well, executed on offense and we kept the ball moving."
On Jamaysha Bernard
"Jamaysha had a break out night with 17 boards, 3-4 from the line and 6-6 from the field. She's been really working on her game. She works hard and definitely deserves the kind of night she had tonight. When she rebounds like that it shows me that she's zoned in. It gives us the opportunity to go down the floor and execute on offense."
On Alcorn's three-point shooting tonight
"We made eight threes. We made sure we found the open shooter. We have a good idea of who can knock down shots and we got the ball to them. I like the way we bounced back tonight. We were patient on offense. We weathered the storm and fought 'til the end. We put a complete game together today."
#FearTheBrave
