AAMU Steals One Late from Lady Braves

LORMAN, Miss. – A 51-50 decision was snatched away from the Alcorn State University women's basketball program when Alabama A&M scored the go-ahead bucket with six seconds left Monday at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
Alcorn (4-23, 3-12 SWAC) led AAMU (13-12, 8-6 SWAC) for 36 minutes and 29 seconds in the game. The only lead the Bulldogs had in the fourth quarter was on the final basket by Elexis Evans. It came on an offensive rebound and put-back.
 
The Lady Braves ran the court the other way when a foul was called with 2.5 seconds remaining. However, it was only the fourth foul on the Bulldogs, and thus Alcorn did not go to the free throw line. Alcorn inbounded it from half court, but an off-balanced shot from inside the three-point line on the left side was off the mark at the buzzer.
 
Senior De'Asia Brown led the Lady Braves in scored with 16 points in 35 minutes. Sophomore Jamaysha Bernard reached double-figures, but in rebounding not scoring with 11 boards. She helped Alcorn outrebound AAMU 45-40.
 
AAMU's Nigeria Jones tallied a game-high 24 points to go along with four steals. She was 8-for-10 from the free throw line.
 
The Bulldogs did a lot of damage from the charity stripe where they finished 17-for-28. The Lady Braves ended 4-for-7 from the line.
 
Alcorn got off to one of its best starts in the season, as lay-ups by juniors Jada Hargrove and Toddriana Isler put them ahead 12-5 at the 4:09 mark. A jumpers by sophomore Jasmine Youngthunder and junior Charisma Walker extended it to 18-6 with 2:07 left.
 
AAMU flipped the script though in the second quarter. The Bulldogs used an 8-0 run to get back in it and trail just 24-22 with 3:43 to go. A free throw by Lauren McKee cut it to 26-25 right before the half.
 
Alcorn opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run which included a three-pointer and a jumper by Brown to go back up 32-25 with 5:51 remaining. Though, the Bulldogs ended the quarter strong and scored the final five points to take its first lead of the half 38-37.
 
The Lady Braves again opened the quarter on a 6-0 spurt in the fourth, as a pair of free throws by Brown made it a 43-38 game at the 7:01 mark. A lay-up by Bernard gave Alcorn a 48-42 advantage with 5:14 to go.
 
AAMU slowly chipped away, and did so without making a field goal. Two free throws by Jones trimmed it to 48-44, and another by Tierra Dark chipped it to 48-45. The Bulldogs were down just 48-47 after two free throws by Kenya Pye at the 3:03 mark.
 
After a lay-up by Isler, Pye drew a foul and made one of two free throws as Alcorn led 50-48 with 1:46 left. AAMU got a pair of stops defensively, and Evans made one of two free throws to make it 50-49 with 23 ticks remaining.
 
Alcorn called timeout to advance the ball to midcourt, but it was knocked away with 21 seconds. AAMU's initial shot was no good with eight seconds left, but the put-back by Evans turned out to be the game-winner.
 
The most significant stats that didn't go Alcorn's favor were fouls and turnovers.
 
The Lady Braves committed 23 fouls which led to 28 AAMU free throws, while the Bulldogs were whistled for 13 fouls which resulted in seven free throws for Alcorn. The Bulldogs forced 21 turnovers compared to nine forced by the Lady Braves which led to an 18-3 disparity in points off turnovers.
 
The Lady Braves wrapped-up their home schedule and will hit the road Saturday when they head to Southern for a 3 p.m. tip.
 
NOTES
- The Lady Braves are now 5-3 against AAMU under head coach Courtney G. Pruitt who is in her fourth season.
 
- The 12-point lead was the largest surrendered in a loss this year by Alcorn.
 
- It was the fifth time this season that the Lady Braves were involved in a match decided by three points or less. They dropped to 3-2 (2-2 SWAC) in those games.
 
- In conference games this year, the Lady Braves have outscored the opposition 277-268 in the fourth quarter. The game was even 13-13 in the fourth.
 
- Brown has scored at least 10 points in 14 of 15 league games. She's up to 447 points in her two years at Alcorn. It was her 24th career double-figure scoring game and 20th this year.
 
- Bernard pulled down double-digits in rebounding for the fourth time this year.
 
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