Lady Braves Pick Up Huge Road Win Over TSU

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program has started a winning streak after toppling the Tennessee State Lady Tigers in a nail-biter, 62-57 Thursday night.
 
The Lady Braves (2-4) were guided by the dynamic scoring duo of junior LaRae Rascoe (18) and senior Jada Hargrove (16) who accounted for 34 of the squad's 62 points.

Rascoe was efficient by drilling half of her shot attempts (6-for-12) while Hargrove fronted the purple and gold with three steals.

Sophomore Diamond Hall nabbed a team-best five rebounds on the evening and senior Toddriana Isler was the top assister with two.

Tennessee State (1-3) relied on Taylor Roberts to do the heavy lifting for the blue and white, posting a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds (both game-highs) to go along with four assists and two steals. Jazmine Young also shone brightly for the Lady Tigers, contributing 15 points, six rebounds and a team-best five assists.
 
The opening frame was very closely-contested through the first eight minutes as there were four ties. With 2:06 left, Alcorn was down 12-10 but got buckets from three separate Lady Braves players as they went on a seven-point run to end the quarter and move in front, 17-12.

The blue and white home squad bounced back to begin the second, scoring five unanswered to make it 17-all. Both teams fought tooth-and-nail for every basket, as the Lady Braves outscored TSU 9-8 over the remaining 8:42 of the first half to hold the slimmest of leads at the break, 26-25.

Tennessee State would make seven of the first nine points coming out of the locker rooms as it went up by four, 32-28, in the third. Coach Pruitt's girls responded with a 12-8 surge of its own to earn a stalemate at 40. The visitors from Lorman surged into the lead with a 7-1 barrage to gain a six-point cushion (47-41) heading into the final frame.

Things started to tighten up in the fourth quarter with the Lady Tigers roaring back to even the score at 51 with just over two-and-a-half minutes remaining. Alcorn's LaRae Rascoe and TSU's Deaja Richardson both connected on clutch triples to keep the game deadlocked before a driving layup by freshman Cayla Obillo put the the road team in front, 56-54 with a minute to go. A pair of free throws by Rascoe and redshirt junior Aysha Kirkland made it 60-54, but a three-pointer by Tennessee State's Jazmine Young kept things interesting with five seconds on the clock. Hargrove salted the win away by knocking down two more free throws as the Lady Braves earned its second straight triumph, 62-57.

The purple and gold return home Tuesday evening, facing Tougaloo College at 5:30 p.m. inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
NOTES
- This was the fourth ever meeting between the two women's basketball programs with Alcorn improving to 4-0 all-time. 

- Alcorn dominated in converting turnovers to points and controlling the paint, outscoring TSU 40 to 16 inside the key while producing 27 points off of turnovers compared to Tennessee State's six.

- The purple and gold held a clear advantage in the steals, holding the edge 14-5 while committing just under half of the turnovers that the Lady Tigers did (28-15).

- Tennessee State held a plus-nine rebounding advantage on the night, grabbing 46 to Alcorn's 37.

- LaRae Rascoe continues to be a huge offseason acquisition for the Lady Braves, notching her fifth double-digit scoring night in six tries and her third straight contest with ten or more. Rascoe is averaging 11 points a contest while tallying a team-best 16 steals since transferring over from Ancilla College.

- Jada Hargrove remains hot, notching her fourth double-figure scoring performance of 2019-20 and joins Rascoe in averaging double-digit points for the year at 11.5 per night. Hargrove is now tied for team lead at 11 assists through six games.

Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt

Overall Statement:
"Proud of the ladies and the way they fought through adversity tonight! We were able to put a complete game together and it paid off in our favor," said Coach Pruitt. "We were able to get huge minutes from our freshmen. Nothing like stealing a win against a tough team on the road!"

#FearTheBrave