Women's Basketball | 12/29/2019 9:58:00 AM

Lady Braves Cap Off Non-Conference Action At Texas State

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SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program returns from the holiday break on Monday evening to take on the Texas State Bobcats at 7 p.m. inside Strahan Arena.

The Lady Braves (4-7) continue to be a disruptive force on the defensive side of the court as they are the best in the NCAA with 168 steals (15.3 per game) and 29.82 turnovers forced per game.

Senior Jada Hargrove has established herself as a top-tier player in the SWAC, ranking third in the country with a 96.2 free-throw percentage (25-of-26) while she's top-five among her conference peers for field goals made (48) and points scored (129).

Junior LaRae Rascoe has been dynamite for the purple and gold placing just outside the top-50 in steals with 27, has drained a club-high 15 three-pointers on 37 attempts (.405), is tied for the team lead with 129 points and has made over 40 percent of her shots on the campaign.

Sophomore Diamond Hall is fifth in the conference with 23 steals and is seventh in the league with a 2.09 average as well.

 "I think it will be a good test for us coming off a much needed break," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "It will be a great tune up before we get into conference play on January 4."

Texas State (6-4) is looking to snap a two-game slide as its fallen to fellow HBCU Morgan State (72-62) and TCU (79-52).

The Bobcats are one of the better squads in the Sun Belt Conference in regard to assist-to-turnover ratio (0.87), assists per game (13.1), scoring defense (57.5), steals per game (9.9), turnover margin (6.20) and turnovers forced per game (21.30), placing first or second in each category.

Kennedy Taylor has run the TSU offense smoothly and efficiently this season, leading the conference in assists (46) and assists per game (4.6) while ranking in the top-five for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.44). Brooke Holle is the defensive guru of the bunch, ranking second in the Sun Belt with 26 steals (2.60 per night).

NOTES
- Alcorn battles Texas State for the fourth time in program, with the Lady Braves leading the series 2-1. The teams last met in 2002-03 with the squads splitting a pair of home-and-home games as each club won on its home floor.

- After defeating Tennessee State (11/21) and Florida A&M (12/8) the Lady Braves have now defeated two non-conference division one foes in the same season for the first time since 2011-12, when the purple and gold beat Southeastern Louisiana plus Northwestern State in back-to-back contests. Alcorn has now matched its win total from last year.

- LaRae Rascoe was named SWAC Player of the Week on December 12, becoming the first Lady Brave to win the award since Alexus Freeman on January 23, 2018. She earned the accolade after having a monster game versus Florida A&M (12/8), coming off the bench to score a season-high 19 points in only 22 minutes of action while draining 7-of-12 (.583) from the floor. The guard also made five free throws to go along with a rebound, steal and an assist in the victory.

- Rascoe continues to be a huge offseason acquisition for the Lady Braves, notching nine double-digit scoring nights in 11 tries. Rascoe is averaging a tied for team-best 11.7 points a contest while tallying 27 steals and fronting the squad with 15 threepointers since transferring over from Ancilla College.

- Jada Hargrove remains the go-to scorer and overall leader of this Lady Braves squad, notching seven double-figure scoring performances and is tied for tops on the club at 11.7 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 27 assists, has swiped a team-high 30 steals through 11 games and is second in rebounds with 41.

- Aysha Kirkland sits atop the rebounding leaderboard at 43 boards and averages 3.9 per game.

- Diamond Hall and Jamaysha Bernard both top the Lady Braves in blocks as they've knocked away five apiece.

- 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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