Fourth Quarter Rally Falls Short for Lady Braves at Alabama State

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A 27-point second half deficit was trimmed down to 10 points in the fourth quarter for the Alcorn State University women's basketball program, but Alabama State was able to hold off the Lady Braves 76-63 Saturday at Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
 
Alcorn (3-16, 2-5 SWAC) out-scored Alabama State (5-12, 4-2 SWAC) in the fourth quarter 25-15. It came all the way back to get the deficit down to 10, but the surging Lady Braves couldn't get any closer in the final four minutes.
 
Junior Jada Hargrove turned in a solid outing of 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. Freshman Alexia Hood submitted a career-high 14 points including four-of-five from long-range. She becomes the first Lady Brave to make four three-pointers in a single game this year.
 
Also in double-figures was senior De'Asia Brown with 11 points. She continued her streak of scoring at least 10 points in every conference game this year.
 
As a team, Alcorn nailed 11 three-pointers. In addition to Hood's four, Brown was 3-for-6 from beyond-the-arc and Hargrove hit a pair.
 
Five student-athletes scored in double-figures for ASU, which has won four of its last five games. Ayana Emmanuel recorded a game-high 17 points, while Shmya Ward ended with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Hornets opened the game on a 9-0 run. Alcorn's first bucket came on sophomore Jamaysha Bernard's first career three-pointer. The Lady Braves scored the final five points of the quarter including a three-pointer by Hood and a pair of free throws by junior Charisma Walker to trail 17-12 heading into the second.
 
ASU pushed its lead up to 28-14 midway through the quarter. A 7-0 spurt by Alcorn, which included a lay-up and three-pointer by sophomore Kirdis Clark trimmed it to 28-21 with 1:45 left. Though, the Hornets ended the half by reeling off the final 11 points to create a 39-21 edge at the intermission.
 
ASU's largest lead of the game 49-22 came at the 6:03 mark of the third. An 8-2 run by Alcorn which included three-pointers by Hargrove and Hood made it a 56-36 game with 1:22 left. However, the Hornets were able to get their lead back up to 61-38 at the end of the quarter.
 
The Lady Braves trailed 64-40 early in the fourth when they went on a huge 14-2 spurt which included three-pointers by Hood and Brown to get the deficit down to 66-56 at the 4:23 mark. Though, Alcorn couldn't get the margin into single-figures as the Hornets responded with a 6-2 spurt to go back up 72-58.
 
Alcorn will close out the weekend trip Monday in a 5:30 p.m. contest against Alabama A&M at T.M. Elmore Gym. The Lady Braves are 5-1 against Alabama A&M under head coach Courtney G. Pruitt who is in her fourth season. The two teams split a pair of meetings last year, each winning at home.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn entered the game leading the SWAC in offensive rebounding with 15.9 per contest and pulled down 22.
 
- It was the Hornets first win over the Lady Braves in a couple years after Alcorn swept the season-series last year.
 
- Due in large part by Hood's career-high, the Lady Braves out-scored the Hornets 25-21 off the bench.
 
- Hood more-than quadrupled her previous career-high of three points set five times. Her four three-pointers nearly matched the amount she had made all season, as she entered the game 5-of-15 from long-range. She logged a career-high 23 minutes.
 
- Hargrove notched her second straight big game as she was coming off a career-high 17 points against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Her six rebounds were one short of a career-high. Hargrove scored in double-figures for the 15th time in her career and 10th time this season.
 
- Brown netted her seventh consecutive double-figure scoring game, 13th this season and 17th of her career. She drilled a trio of three-pointers for the second time in her career.
 
- Junior Toddriana Isler returned to the court after missing the previous five games due to injury. She finished with six points and six rebounds in 22 minutes.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
Opening Statement
"If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all. We couldn't throw it in the ocean to start the game. We were trying to sub and get different patterns to find us a bucket somewhere, but we just couldn't until the second half. We did a good job of continuing to battle and fight. Our young ladies never gave up and were resilient for 40 minutes, and that I was proud of. We were off tonight in the first half, and when we finally found it in the second half there just wasn't enough time left on the clock."
 
On Toddriana Isler's return
"It was a good comeback night for her. She battled, and finished with six points and six rebounds. She missed some shots that she usually makes, but she stayed with it."
 
On Alexia Hood's career-high
"She had an excellent second half. We knew that her time was coming, and she did a great job on defense for us. She's quick and can put pressure on. She also made some great shots and only missed one the whole night. She was making the three-ball which we really needed and it got us going and back in the game. She played really tough and that's what we're going to need."
 
Final Thoughts
"We play a lot of freshmen and we're slowly starting to figure it out. It's not at the pace we wanted, but we're making the right steps. We had a small moral victory in getting the deficit down from 27 to 10. We just have to keep working and get ready for a tough Alabama A&M team Monday night. We've got to find a way to take care of business on the road."
 
#FearTheBrave