Fourth Quarter Surge Not Enough As Lady Braves Fall To Bobcats

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program nearly erased a 20-point deficit over the final ten minutes of regulation but ultimately came up short to Texas State, 67-59.
 
The Lady Braves (4-8) had a positive turnover margin for the tenth time in 12 games as it went plus-ten for the night and have now swiped double-digit steals as a unit in all but one game with 14 on the evening.

Freshman Cayla Obillo notched her second consecutive contest of double-figure points, tying for the team-best with senior Jada Hargrove at 12.

Hargrove, junior Kirdis Clark and senior Toddriana Isler all led Alcorn in rebounds, pulling down five each.

Clark made half of her shot attempts off the bench to finish with nine points as well as a career-high four assists and three steals.

Texas State (7-4) had 46 of its 67 points (.687 percent) come from the trio of Jayla Johnson (18), Kennedy Taylor (16) and Avionne Alexander (12) while Johnson's contributions came off the bench.

Taylor had an all-around solid night with a game-high eight assists to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Da'Nasia Hood was the game's best rebounder, grabbing 14 boards.

The first quarter saw both squads fight tooth and nail for each bucket as there were four ties but the Lady Braves contributed the frame's final six points to take its first lead after one, 14-12.

TSU held the advantage through the first five minutes of the second, outscoring Alcorn 13-5 over that span. Coach Pruitt's crew cut the lead down to two right before the halftime buzzer sounded with a three-pointer by Clark to go into the break trailing 33-31.

The visitors from Lorman had the momentum going into the halftime locker room but the home side dominated the third frame to the tune of 26-8 as the Bobcats opened up a sizable 59-39 edge heading into the final ten minutes.

The purple and gold showed its resolve by not giving up despite the score, slowly chipping away at the TSU lead. Alcorn held the girls from San Marcos without a field goal over the final 5:06 in regulation and scored 13 of the contest's final 15 points but the Lady Braves ran out of time as Texas State came away with a 67-59 victory.

Alcorn begins SWAC play on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. opposite the Prairie View A&M Panthers inside the William Nicks Building.
 
NOTES

- Texas State evened up the all-time series at two wins apiece.

- While Alcorn forced ten more turnovers than TSU, the two teams each converted 21 points off of them.

- The Bobcats doubled up the Lady Braves in second chance points (16-8) and came away with more points in the paint (28-22).  
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
 
Overall statement:
"Overall the ladies played a great game and fought until the buzzer but the third quarter really hurt us. We missed eight point-blank layups at a critical point in the game and that really hurt us."

#FearTheBrave