Hot Shooting Blazers Topple Lady Braves

LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program could not keep up with the high-powered UAB offense as the purple and gold fell, 86-65.

The Lady Braves (4-7) had the three-point shots falling all afternoon, making 9-of-15 (.600) from downtown, the most made triples of the campaign so far.

Freshman Cayla Obillo was a perfect 5-for-5 from behind the three-point line, the first Lady Brave player since 2012-13 to accomplish the feat on five attempts or more. Her 15 points, five field goals made and five assists all paced Alcorn during the contest with the first two stats being season-highs.

Junior LaRae Rascoe had her ninth double-figure game in 11 appearances, putting together 12 points to go along with complimenting Obillo by going 3-for-3 from deep.

Redshirt junior Aysha Kirkland led Alcorn in rebounds, pulling down four.

UAB (6-3) got a triple-double performance out of Angela Vendrell, who posted a stat line of 19 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 points, fronting the Blazers in the former two categories.

The Blazers also had two girls top 20 points as Rachael Childress (25) and Katelynn Thomas (23) combined for 48 of the team's 86 points or 55.8 percent of the club's scoring.

The visitors from Birmingham, Alabama connected on an astounding 33-of-60 buckets from the field (.550) and knocked down nine three-pointers in 20 tries (.450).

The green and gold took command almost immediately, stringing together 14 unanswered points after a Lady Braves layup to open the game up 14-2. Alcorn would outscore the Blazers 12-7 throughout the rest of the first quarter, cutting the lead to 21-14 after ten minutes.

The purple and gold kept UAB in check over the first seven minutes of the second quarter, keeping the Blazers within six, 32-26, with three minutes to go in the half. Alabama-Birmingham then turned up the heat, closing the half on a run of 13-3 to go into the break ahead of the home squad, 45-29.

The third quarter saw the Blazers continue to widen the margin, leading by as much as 24 before settling on a 65-44 advantage going into the final frame.

Alcorn was able to match UAB's 21 points in the fourth but the Blazers from Birmingham put the finishing touches on an 86-65 win.

Coach Pruitt and the Lady Braves will conclude its non-conference schedule on Monday, December 30 at Texas State with tipoff set for 7 p.m.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn remained winless in six all-time meetings with UAB.

- UAB dominated on the glass, outrebounding Alcorn by a 46-27 margin.

- The Lady Braves continue to win the turnover battle night-in and night-out, forcing 16 turnovers while only committing nine.  
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
 
Overall statement:
"We just didn't get the turnovers we wanted tonight and didn't rotate as well as we usually do defensively, costing us to give up threes. I'm proud of the ladies and the way they continued to fight! We will be ready when January comes!"

#FearTheBrave