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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program had one day of preparation before heading to Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday at 6 p.m. to battle the Lady Tigers in a HBCU Showdown.
The Lady Braves (1-4) have forced turnovers at an extremely high rate over the first five contests, ranking second in the NCAA for steals (70), top-five in turnovers forced (27.40) and top-15 for steals per game (14.0). Alcorn has also done an excellent job of corralling rebounds as it's a top-25 unit at 196 on the year, leading the SWAC as well.
Junior
LaRae Rascoe leads the charge on the defensive front as she has 15 steals which is ninth-most in the nation. Her average of 3.00 steals per contest is inside the top-50 and sixth-best in conference.
Sophomore
Diamond Hall has been Rascoe's partner in crime when it comes to stealing, ranking in the top-40 nationwide with 12 steals while flirting with the conference's top-ten at 2.40 per game.
Senior
Jada Hargrove continues to excel in multiple assets of the game, averaging 10.6 points a night, placing top-35 in the country for free-throw percentage (92.9) while leading the league in field goal attempts at 64.
"TSU will be a good measuring stick for us because they will mimic a lot of what we will see during conference play," said head coach
Courtney G. Pruitt. "Our ladies improved a lot last night during our win against Louisiana College but we must continue to grow and mesh into a team that can put a complete game together for four quarters."
Tennessee State (1-2) has defeated NAIA's Wilberforce while dropping contests to Tennessee (73-43) and North Alabama (88-63).
The Lady Tigers' roster is built similar to the Lady Braves in its strengths almost mirror each other. TSU is one of the better teams in the NCAA at causing and limiting turnovers as it places itself top-50 nationally in steals per game (11.7), fewest turnovers (44), turnovers forced (22.33) and turnover margin (7.67).
The blue and white have also converted on its freebies, hitting 74 percent of its shots from the charity stripe, the best mark in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Taylor Roberts and Jazmine Young form a solid one-two punch for TSU, as they both rank top-five in the conference for free-throw percentage and steals per game.
NOTES
- Alcorn is undefeated all-time against Tennessee State and will be facing the Lady Tigers for the fourth time head-to-head. The two teams last met in 2006-07 with the Lady Braves coming away victorious, 58-48.
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LaRae Rascoe has logged four double-digit scoring performances over her first five games as a Lady Brave and is averaging 9.6 points per contest. The JUCO transfer tops the purple and gold with 15 steals (3.0 per game).
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Jada Hargrove is the team's leading scorer at 10.6 points a night while pulling down 19 rebounds (3.8 per game) and dishing out ten assists, both are the second-most on the team. -
Aysha Kirkland fronts Alcorn in the rebounding department, pulling down 25 overall for a 5.0 per game average.
- Freshman
Cayla Obillo has been a floor general in her first collegiate season, recording a team-high 11 assists to go along with grabbing ten rebounds.
- Pruitt revamped her coaching staff for 2019-20 with the additions of
Andre Payne and
Mike Pittman. Payne last served as Mississippi Valley State's Men's Basketball Head Coach where he made four SWAC Tournaments and coached two All-SWAC performers. Pittman spent last season at Paul Quinn and led the Lady Tigers to the USCAA Final Four. Also on staff is student assistant
De'Asia Brown. She led Alcorn in points per game (12.3) and three-pointers (38) last season.
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