Brown Matches Career-High in Defeat to PVAMU

LORMAN, Miss. – Senior De'Asia Brown netted 19 points, but it wasn't enough as the Alcorn State University women's basketball program fell to Prairie View A&M 82-61 Monday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
The Panthers (5-7, 2-0 SWAC) came out of the gates on fire and never looked back. They scored 30 points in the first, the second-most the Lady Braves (2-12, 1-1 SWAC) allowed in a quarter this season.
 
For the game, PVAMU shot 32-for-53 (.604) from the field, while Alcorn was 22-for-61 (.361).
 
Brown's 19 points came on 6-for-13 shooting and 2-for-2 from beyond-the-arc. She played a career-high 40 minutes.
 
Sophomore Jamaysha Bernard upped her career-high for the second straight game with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Kirdis Clark was one point shy of her career-best with 10 points.
 
PVAMU's Shala Dobbins led all scorers with 27 points and eight rebounds. La'Neique Nealey ended with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
 
The Panthers broke loose early with a 9-0 run to lead 11-2 at the start. A 6-0 spurt upped the advantage to 30-11 with a minute left in the quarter. PVAMU shot an astounding 12-for-15 (.800) in the opening period.
 
The Lady Braves could never get on their feet. Their best quarter came in the fourth when they outscored the Panthers 19-11, but were too far behind to mount a comeback. The Panthers led by as many as 30 points in the third quarter.
 
Alcorn will look to bounce back Friday when it makes the short trip up to Jackson State for a 3 p.m. start.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn entered the game leading the SWAC in offensive rebounding with 16.8 per game and pulled down 18. Junior Diamond Hall grabbed four offensive rebounds and a team-high seven overall.
 
- Brown matched her career-high of 19 points set against Southeastern Louisiana earlier this season. She registered her 12th career double-figure scoring game and eighth this year.
 
- Bernard topped her previous career-high of six points set just two days ago against Texas Southern. She was 5-of-8 from the floor.
 
- Clark reached double-figures for the second time this year. She was one point shy of her career-high of 11 points against Southeastern Louisiana. Clark was 4-for-7 from the field.
 
- The Lady Braves were without junior Toddriana Isler after she left Saturday's game with an injury. Isler started all 13 games previously.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
Opening Statement
"I was looking over to my coaching staff and I was just like this is unrealistic. PVAMU shot horrible on Saturday night. Tonight, they shot 60% from the floor and 60% from three. There isn't much of a game plan you can execute for that. They shot the ball unreal tonight and we didn't have an answer for it. We were down a man with Toddriana getting hurt last game. On a night like this you need every player you can get."
 
On the message to the team between quarters
"I thought they would cool off. I kept telling my girls that. I told them not to get discouraged they will slow down eventually. Keep your heads up and keep playing defense. Keep your hands up and in their face."
 
On the rebounding
"Despite not having Isler we battled on the boards. We had 33 rebounds to match their 33 rebounds. We were even on turnovers. We turned it over just as many times. We just didn't get as many points as they did."
 
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