Women's Basketball | 1/10/2020 9:57:00 AM

Alcorn Welcomes Pair Of Lady Tigers For Weekend Homestand

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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program will host Jackson State on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Grambling State on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to kickoff its SWAC home schedule.

The Lady Braves (5-9, 1-1 SWAC) have been near or at the top of the NCAA in a trio of categories; steals (208), steals per game (14.9) and turnovers forced (28.93). The purple and gold is also top-three in the SWAC for assists (154) and free throws made (152) to go with a top-five placement in field-goal percentage defense (43.1), rebounds (475), scoring defense (68.9) and three-point field-goal percentage (29.7).

Junior LaRae Rascoe is coming off a huge weekend against Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern as she averaged 20.5 points, three steals, two rebounds and an assist while setting season-highs in points (22), three-pointers (5) and free throws made (5) in the win over PVAMU. Rascoe is top-45 in steals per game at 2.54, top-60 in total steals with 33, is sixth in the conference at 13.1 points per game and has buried 21 triples, good for third-most in the conference.

Senior Jada Hargrove has paired together with Rascoe to become a dynamic scoring threat from the guard position. Hargrove is second on the squad at 11.4 points a night as well as being the team's leading rebounder (55), assister (30), stealer (37) and free-throw shooter (.969 percent). The Riverdale, Georgia native would have the second-best free-throw percentage nationally if she qualified and is top-35 in the nation in total steals.  

Sophomore Diamond Hall has joined the aforementioned Rascoe and Hargrove as a defensive force to be reckoned with, logging 29 steals to place in the league's top-five and averaging a top-ten conference ranking at a 2.07 steals per game clip.

Junior Kirdis Clark has heated up as conference play begins as she's scored an average of 14.5 points in the squad's two SWAC matchups while connecting on 10-of-26 (.385) shots.

"We are looking forward to this Saturday's rivalry game. They have great post play and we have great guard play, it will be a tough battle but I know our ladies are up to the challenge." said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "Monday night's contest won't be any easier, we just have to make sure we carry over from Saturday to Monday."

Jackson State (4-8, 2-0 SWAC) swept the Alabama SWAC schools to start conference action and are currently riding a three-game winning streak into Lorman after defeating Louisiana in its last non-conference tune-up.

JSU has four players over six-foot and it shows up in the team's rebounding and defensive dominance. The blue and white sits atop the SWAC in blocks (55), blocks per game (4.6), field-goal percentage defense (39.3), rebounds (517), rebound margin (0.3) and rebounds per game (43.08) while ranking top-15 in the country at 16.3 offensive boards a night.

The Lady Tigers came into the season with two Preseason All-SWAC selections in First-Teamer Marneisha Hamer and Second-Teamer Kaisah Lucky. Hamer has been one of the more effective shooters in the league as she's third with a .466 field-goal percentage and fourth in free-throw percentage at .720. Lucky has thrived in the floor commander role, ranking second in the conference for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.47), assists (56) and assists per game (4.7).

A player that has burst onto the scene has been 6-foot-4 junior Ameshya Williams who is the top shot blocker in the SWAC at 29 rejections for an average of 2.42 per contest. She's also hauled in her share of rebounds as she's top-25 in the NCAA for offensive boards a night (4.1) and third in the league for rebounding average (8.7).

Grambling State (2-11, 1-1 SWAC) has yet to find its rhythm as a unit with its only two victories coming over Alabama A&M and Centenary (La.) so far in the 2019-20 campaign.

The black and gold thrive at converting at the charity stripe and protecting the three-point line. GSU is tops in the SWAC when attempting free throws, making .698 percent of its attempts. The Lady Tigers have been stingy when it comes to letting opposing offenses camp outside the arc as its adversaries have completed a league-low .279 percent of its shots from long range.

The visitors from Grambling have a solid duo of their own in Justice Coleman and Kailyn Gideon guiding the way. Coleman ranks fourth in the league, draining her field goals at a rate of .433 while Coleman has been more effective defensively, averaging a blocked shot per game.

NOTES
- Alcorn and Jackson State will meet on the hardwood for the 95th edition of this rivalry game on Saturday with JSU leading the all-time series 51-43. The Lady Braves will look to end a four-game losing streak to the Lady Tigers.

- The Lady Braves face Grambling State on Monday in the 100th meeting all-time and will look to even the series as GSU holds the slightest of advantages, 50-49.

- LaRae Rascoe was named SWAC Player of the Week on December 12, becoming the first Lady Brave to win the award since Alexus Freeman on January 23, 2018. She earned the accolade after having a monster game versus Florida A&M (12/8), coming off the bench to score a season-high 19 points in only 22 minutes of action while draining 7-of-12 (.583) from the floor. The guard also made five free throws to go along with a rebound, steal and an assist in the victory.

- Rascoe continues to be a huge offseason acquisition for the Lady Braves, notching 11 double-digit scoring nights in 13 tries. Rascoe is averaging a team-high 11.7 points a contest while tallying 33 steals, 20 assists and a club-best 21 three-pointers since transferring over from Ancilla College. In conference, she's accumulated 20.5 points a game with six steals, six threes on 11 attempts (.545) and is knocking down 43.3 percent of her shots from the floor.

- Jada Hargrove has notched nine double-figure scoring performances and is contributing 11.4 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 30 assists, has swiped a team-high 37 steals through 14 games and is tops in rebounds with 55.

- Kirdis Clark has gotten off to a hot start to open SWAC play, averaging 14.5 points per contest while making 38.5 percent of her shots and swiping four steals.

- Diamond Hall and Jamaysha Bernard both top the Lady Braves in blocks as they've swatted away five apiece.

- Pruitt revamped her coaching staff for 2019-20 with the additions of Andre Payne and 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 assistant De'Asia Brown. She led Alcorn in points per game (12.3) and three-pointers (38) last season.

Both games can be heard on the radio on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond on the call.

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