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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program welcomes the Lady Rattlers of Florida A&M to The Reservation Sunday at 2 p.m. as the squads faceoff in a MEAC vs. SWAC showdown.
The Lady Braves (3-6) remain atop all of the NCAA's Division I in a trio of categories; steals (139), steals per game (15.4) and turnovers forced (29.56). Coach Pruitt's bunch tops the SWAC in total assists (106) and total rebounds (328) as well.
The trio of junior
LaRae Rascoe, senior
Jada Hargrove, and sophomore
Diamond Hall all rank inside the SWAC's top-five in steals and steals per game. Rascoe is top-20 in the country at a team-high 25 steals (2.78 per game), Hargrove is top-30 with 24 steals (2.67 per contest) and Hall rounds out the defensive group, notching 21 steals (2.33 a night).
Hargrove has proven to be deadly when given the opportunity for free buckets, swishing 23 of 24 free-throw attempts for a 95.8 percentage, the third-highest rate in the country. The guard from Riverdale, Georgia is among the conference's elite, placing among the top-three for assists (25), field goals made (39), points (107) and free throws made (23).
"FAMU is going to come to us hungry after a tough loss to MVSU on Friday. They remind me a lot of us because of their scrappy defense and tendency to play fast," said head coach
Courtney G. Pruitt. "It will be a great test for us as we inch closer to conference play."
Florida A&M (2-5) dropped a heartbreaker to Mississippi Valley State last time out, falling 71-70 on the buzzer-beating three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left. The Lady Rattlers' two victories have come over a pair of NCCAA schools in Trinity Baptist (103-54) and Johnson University (102-40).
The orange and green have been excellent cleaning up its misses on the offensive glass, ranking second in the NCAA with 20.0 offensive rebounds per contest and top-15 nationally for rebounds per game at 45.33. FAMU is also successful on defense with a top-25 ranking for steals per game (11.8) and a conference-best 72.2 point scoring offense.
The Lady Rattlers two best players include Shalaunda Burney-Robinson and Alaina Rice. Burney-Robinson tops the MEAC in average rebounds at 8.2 a night while Rice is third in the league with an average of 2.17 steals per contest.
NOTES
- Alcorn will battle Florida A&M for the seventh time in program history, going 5-1 in the series. The last time these two met was the 2005-06 season with the Lady Braves earning a 64-57 overtime victory over the Lady Rattlers.
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Jada Hargrove remains the go-to scorer and overall leader of this Lady Braves squad, notching six double-figure scoring performances and tops the club at 11.9 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 25 assists, is tied for the most rebounds with 37 and places second in steals, swiping 24 through nine games.
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LaRae Rascoe continues to be a huge offseason acquisition for the Lady Braves, notching seven double-digit scoring nights in nine tries. Rascoe is averaging 10.9 points a contest while tallying a team-best 25 steals and 12 three-pointers since transferring over from Ancilla College.
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Aysha Kirkland sits atop the rebounding leaderboard along with Hargrove at 37 boards and averages 4.1 per game.
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Diamond Hall and
Jamaysha Bernard both top the Lady Braves in blocks as they've knocked away three apiece.
- Pruitt revamped her coaching staff for 2019-20 with the additions ofÂ
Andre Payne andÂ
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 assistantÂ
De'Asia Brown. She led Alcorn in points per game (12.3) and three-pointers (38) last season.
Tuesday's game can be heard on the radio on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond on the call.
#FearTheBrave
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