Lady Braves Fall to TSU, Still Alive for SWAC Championships

HOUSTON – Senior De'Asia Brown registered 19 points and six rebounds, but the Alcorn State University women's basketball program was topped by Texas Southern 66-51 Thursday at H&PE Arena.
 
The Lady Braves (4-25, 3-14 SWAC) can still make the SWAC Championships. They need to beat Prairie View A&M and have Mississippi Valley State lose to Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday.
 
Brown was 7-for-18 from the floor which included a couple of three-pointers. She was the only Lady Brave in double-figures. Junior Jada Hargrove finished with nine points.
 
Niya Mitchell turned in a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Tigers (14-13, 11-6 SWAC). Richelle Velez scored 13 points and Olivia Cunningham 11.
 
The Lady Braves outrebounded TSU 45-40 and it led to a 16-8 edge in second chance points. Though, Alcorn shot .299 (20-67) from the floor, while the Tigers posted a .442 (23-52) mark.
 
Hargrove knocked down a pair of mid-range jumpers to get Alcorn started, but the Tigers used an 8-0 run to take a 12-4 lead in the first quarter. An inside bucket by freshman Bria Broughton ended the spurt, but TSU pushed its edge up to 18-7 at the 2:44 mark.
 
Brown scored five consecutive points including an old-fashion three-point play to spark a 7-0 Alcorn run to end the quarter. The Tigers led 18-14 at the end of the first.
 
A three-pointer from the corner by Hargrove cut the deficit to 20-18 with 7:39 left in the second. However, the Tigers answered with an 8-0 run to go back up 28-18 with 5:03 remaining. A bucket in the closing seconds helped TSU extend it to 36-22 at the half.
 
The Tigers opened up a 46-27 advantage with 2:55 to go in the third. Alcorn responded with back-to-back threes by Brown to trail 46-33 at the 1:42 mark. A jumper by junior Charisma Walker had the Lady Braves down 47-37 at the end of the quarter.
 
TSU regained control early in the fourth by opening the quarter on a 9-0 run. Alcorn was down by 18 when Brown converted back-to-back runners to trail 61-47 with 3:09 left.
 
The Lady Braves will play their regular season finale Saturday when they travel to Prairie View A&M for a 3 p.m. game. Alcorn will look to win at PVAMU for the second straight season.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn and TSU split the season series. The Lady Braves won 53-52 at the Davey L. Whitney Complex. It was TSU's first win over Alcorn in three tries.
 
- The Lady Braves entered the game leading the SWAC in offensive rebounds per game with 16.4. That mark will go up after they pulled down 21. Brown, junior Toddriana Isler and sophomore Aysha Kirkland secured three apiece.
 
- Brown totaled her 25th career double-figure scoring game, 21st this season and sixth in the last seven games. The 19 points were the second-highest of her career. The six rebounds matched a season-high.
 
- Hargrove is the only Lady Brave to start in all 29 games. She entered the game ranked second in the SWAC in minutes (33.1 mpg) and fifth in steals (2.1 spg) - she logged 36 minutes with a pair of steals.
 
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