Miners Use Big First Quarter To Beat Lady Braves

EL PASO, Texas – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program fell behind 28-10 in the opening frame and never recovered as UTEP came away with a 92-47 victory.
 
The Lady Braves (0-4) did not have its best shooting night, going 16-for-50 (.320) compared to the red-hot Miners (3-0) who hit 34-of-62 (.548) including nine three-pointers.
 
Alcorn got another double-digit scoring output from junior LaRae Rascoe, who fronted the squad with 13 points and four steals while junior Kirdis Clark was the purple and gold's top rebounder at six. A pair of freshman Cayla Obillo and Aja Wheeler had the most assists (3) and steals (4), respectively, with Wheeler making her collegiate debut.
 
Alcorn kept the game within a couple baskets early on as the purple and gold trailed 18-10 with 2:44 left in the first quarter. Ten unanswered points by the orange and blue to end the first quarter saw the deficit swell to 28-10 after ten minutes of action.

UTEP had its run balloon to 19-0 before a jumper by senior Charisma Walker ended the scoring drought. Alcorn would outscore Texas-El Paso 12-9 over the final six minutes and 15 seconds of the first half as the Miners were up 46-24 at halftime.

The Miners began the second half with ten consecutive points before the Lady Braves cashed in. UTEP won the third quarter by a margin of 26-13 and both teams headed to the final quarter with the home side ahead 72-37.

Alcorn wrapped up the final frame by posting ten points to UTEP's 20 as the Miners came away with a 92-47 win.

The Lady Braves open its home schedule Tuesday night with the Louisiana College Lady Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn dropped to 1-5 all-time versus UTEP, winning its 1999-2000 matchup by a score of 68-47.

- Rascoe logged her third double-digit scoring performance over her first four games as a Lady Brave and is averaging 9.5 points per contest. The JUCO transfer tops the purple and gold with 13 steals and is tied for the assists lead at seven.

- Senior Jada Hargrove is the team's leading scorer at 10.8 points a night while tying the team's highest assist total with seven.

- Redshirt junior Aysha Kirkland fronts Alcorn in the rebound department, pulling down 19 for a 4.8 per game average.

Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt

Overall Statement:
"We had a difficult time scoring the ball tonight. We had great looks but we couldn't finish around the rim," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "We've also got to do a better job of converting and turning our defense into offense. Anytime you force 25 turnovers you've got to be able to capitalize on their mistakes."

#FearTheBrave