Lady Braves Rally on the Road to Beat MVSU in Overtime, Brown Career-High 27 Points

ITTA BENA, Miss. – A 15-point third quarter deficit turned into an 81-80 victory for the Alcorn State University women's basketball program over Mississippi Valley State as senior De'Asia Brown notched a career-high 27 points Saturday at the R.W. Harrison Complex.
 
With the victory, the Lady Braves (4-20, 3-9 SWAC) swept the season series over the Delta Devilettes (4-19, 3-9 SWAC).
 
The 81 points scored marked a season-high for Alcorn.
 
The Lady Braves trailed 34-19 a minute into the third quarter when they began their comeback. They didn't lead MVSU until the overtime period when they went up by seven, and held on in the end.
 
Brown's career-high came on 9-for-20 shooting from the floor. She drilled a trio of three-pointers and logged a career-high 43 minutes.
 
Junior Jada Hargrove heavily aided the attack with 16 points. Junior Toddriana isler neared a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
 
The Delta Devilettes were guided by Erin Smith's 20 points. LaKendra Bassett finished with a double-double of 10 points and 10 assists.
 
MVSU raced out to an early 9-4 lead in the contest. The Lady Braves answered with a three-pointer by Brown and a jumper by junior Charisma Walker to tie it 11-11. The Delta Devilettes scored the last bucket of the quarter on a lay-up by Sydnie Ward to lead 13-11.
 
In the second, MVSU scored the first five points to go up 18-11 at the 8:49 mark. Alcorn went cold in the quarter, and the Delta Devilettes took advantage to build a 29-17 edge with 1:04 to go. Freshman Bria Broughton hit a jumper with four seconds left, but the Lady Braves trailed 29-19 at the break.
 
MVSU again scored the first five points in the third to take its largest lead 34-19 with 9:05 left. A free throw and a lay-up by Hargrove got it back down to 36-26, and a jumper by Hargrove had Alcorn down by single-figures 36-28 with 6:22 remaining.
 
Trailing 40-31, the Lady Braves used an 8-0 spurt which included three-pointers by freshman Diamond Hall and Brown, and a jumper by freshman Alexia Hood to be down just 40-39 in the third. Though, MVSU scored the last four points to carry a 46-41 lead into the fourth.
 
Still behind 60-54 with 2:53 left, Isler scored a lay-up – and after two missed MVSU free throws – Clark drove for a lay-up to make it a 60-58 game. Alcorn got a defensive stop, and Brown swished a jumper to tie it 60-60 with 1:43 to go.
 
Tied 62-62, the Lady Braves had the ball with 31 seconds left when they ran the clock all the way down for the last shot. The first attempt was a three-pointer by sophomore Aysha Kirkland that was off the mark, but after an offensive rebound, a lay-up rolled off and another shot at the buzzer was blocked.
 
Alcorn game out firing in overtime. The first blow was a three-pointer by Hargrove, followed by a jumper by Kirkland to go up 69-64 with 3:15 left. A lay-up by Hargrove made it 77-70 Alcorn with 43 seconds remaining. MVSU's Erin Smith made a three-pointer with 8 seconds left to cut it to 81-77, and after two missed free throws, she made another three as time expired.
 
The Lady Braves will look to win another road game Monday when they head to Arkansas-Pine Bluff for a late 8 p.m. start at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
 
NOTES
- With the win, Alcorn moves into eighth-place in the conference standings ahead of MVSU. The two teams have the same SWAC record, but the Lady Braves swept the season-series including a 73-63 win at home. The top eight teams qualify for the SWAC Championships.
 
- The Lady Braves have now won 9 of the last 10 meetings against the Delta Devilettes. Alcorn is 8-1 against MVSU under head coach Courtney G. Pruitt.
 
- Alcorn entered the game leading the SWAC in offensive rebounds with 16.3 per game, and pulled down 19. Isler secured a team-high six. The Lady Braves outrebounded the Delta Devilettes 54-41 overall.
 
- The 10-point halftime deficit was the largest overcome in a game this year for Alcorn. The 15-point second half deficit was also the biggest comeback of the season.
 
- In conference games, Alcorn has outscored the opposition 227-221 in the fourth quarter.
 
- Brown topped her previous career-high of 19 points set three times. It was her 21st career double-figure scoring game and 17th this year. Brown has scored in double-digits in 11 of 12 league matches. Her 43 minutes played were also a career-high.
 
- Hargrove submitted her 18th career double-figure scoring game and 13th this year. She's scored at least 15 points five times this season. Hargrove is the only Lady Brave to start in every game this year.
 
- Isler notched her ninth double-figure scoring game of the year and fourth in the last five games. She was one rebound shy of her fourth double-double.
 
- In the two games against MVSU this year, sophomore Jamaysha Bernard has pulled down 26 rebounds (13.0 rpg). She turned in 15 points and 17 rebounds in the first meeting.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
Opening Statement
"It feels good to be back on the winning side. The first half was like we were still on the bus, but once we got off the bus in the second half and started playing defense we were able to chip away. We capitalized when we needed to and slowly got ourselves back into the game, one possession at a time. We were able to tie it up in the last minute of the fourth quarter and I was very proud of the girls poise."
 
On De'Asia Brown's big night
"We started doing some isolation for her and she was able to get the shots that she wanted. We had a slow start tonight but she made up for it big time. She showed up when we needed her to, and the whole team did from the third quarter on."
 
On the third quarter
"We took a timeout early because we weren't doing things that we discussed in the locker room. We made some changes and started executing our offense. We were giving up easy buckets early in the game, but we stepped up defensively in the second half. We knew we needed to play better on the road to get this win that we badly needed."
 
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