Women's Basketball | 1/17/2020 8:30:00 AM

Alcorn Heads To MVSU, UAPB For MLK Weekend

Alcorn Game Notes | Live Video (Mississippi Valley State) | Live Stats (Arkansas-Pine Bluff) | Live Video (Arkansas-Pine Bluff) | Live Audio
 
LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program travels to Itta Bena, Mississippi and Pine Bluff, Arkansas for the extended MLK Day weekend as the Lady Braves look to move above .500 in conference play.

The Lady Braves (6-10, 2-2 SWAC) have held steady atop all of the NCAA's Division I in a trio of categories; steals (235), steals per game (14.7) and turnovers forced (29.06) while placing seventh in turnover margin (8.25). Coach Pruitt's bunch is also top-three in the SWAC for assists (182), free throws made (184) and three-point defense (28.9).

Sophomore Diamond Hall recorded the team's first double-double of the season Monday against Grambling State and was one assist shy of the first triple-double the program has had since at least the 2012-13 campaign. In the game, she led the Lady Braves with 15 rebounds and nine assists while picking up her tenth point on the final bucket of the night to secure the double-double performance. It was the Alcorn's first double-double since January 19, 2019.

Senior Jada Hargrove has proven to be deadly when given the opportunity for free buckets, swishing 34 of 36 free-throw attempts for a 94.4 percentage, which would be tied for the second-highest rate in the country if she qualified. In order to be eligible for the rankings, a player needs to make 2.5 free throws per game, Hargrove clocks in at 2.1 per contest.

Junior LaRae Rascoe has been a huge offseason acquisition for the Lady Braves, notching 13 double-digit scoring nights in 15 tries. Rascoe is averaging a team-high 13.7 points a contest while tallying 37 steals, 23 assists and a club-best 25 three-pointers since transferring over from Ancilla College. In four conference games, she's accumulated 19.0 points a game with ten steals, ten threes on 23 attempts (.435) and is knocking down 40.7 percent of her shots from the floor.

The trio of Hall, Hargrove, and Rascoe all rank inside the SWAC's top-six in steals while they each land among the top-ten in the conference for steals per game. Hargrove is top-30 in the country at a team-high 42 steals (2.63 per game), Rascoe is just outside the top-50 at 37 (2.47 a contest) and Hall cracked the nation's top-100 with 29 (2.06 average).

Junior Kirdis Clark has gotten off to a hot start to open SWAC play, averaging 12.0 points per contest while making 40.0 percent of her shots and swiping eight steals.

"We're playing two dangerous teams on their home court this weekend. We will not let the record of Valley fool us into thinking they are a subpar team. They fight for 40 minutes and have a great scorer in [Ayonna] Cotton," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "UAPB on the other hand has just as many conference wins as us and knows how to expose opponents' weaknesses. We must be focused and ready for any and every situation in order to steal two on the road."

Mississippi Valley State (1-13, 0-3 SWAC) has dropped seven straight heading into Saturday's tilt after beating Florida A&M on a buzzer-beating three-pointer on December 6.

MVSU is an extremely disciplined basketball team and can drain triples with the best of them in the conference. The Delta Devilettes have committed the fewest fouls in the league at 273 (19.5 per game) and have converted 4.9 three-pointers a game (second-best in SWAC) at the most efficient clip (32.2).

Ayonna Cotton and Erin Smith are the main protagonists for the green and red's deep-ball attack. Cotton leads the SWAC in both threes made a game (2.21) and three-point percentage (43.1) while ranking top-30 nationally in the latter. Smith ranks third and second in the conference in those categories, respectively, making 2.07 per contest and converting 37.7 percent of her attempts.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-10, 2-1 SWAC) might have only won one non-conference matchup (Philander Smith) but they have taken care of business so far in the SWAC, claiming victories over Mississippi Valley and Alabama State with a defeat to Alabama A&M sandwiched in between.

Monday's battle will feature two programs that specialize in forcing turnovers as UAPB is third in the SWAC with an average of 10.2 steals per game to go along with a top-40 ranking in turnovers forced at 20.15.

Similar to the Lady Braves, the Lady Golden Lions have three players on the SWAC leaderboard for steals per contest with Kyeonia Harris (2.15), Jayla Atmore (2.00) and Noe'll Taylor (2.00) all ranking among the ten-best in the league. Nissa Sam-Grant does an excellent job protecting the Pine Bluff paint, placing third in the conference with 1.42 blocks a night.

NOTES
- Alcorn holds a 53-31 advantage all-time versus Mississippi Valley State as the Lady Braves swept the season series between the two programs last season.

- The Lady Braves will battle Arkansas-Pine Bluff on the hardwood for the 51st time on Monday. The purple and gold have gone 36-14 in its meeting with the Lady Golden Lions but lost both contests to UAPB in the 2018-19 campaign.

- 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.

- Hall fronts the squad in the rebounding department, totaling 70 through 16 games for an average of 4.4 boards a night, both team-bests. She has turned her game up a notch all-around in conference, averaging 7.5 rebounds, 5.5 points and 2.8 assists per game.

- Jada Hargrove has notched ten double-figure scoring performances and is contributing 11.1 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 33 assists, has swiped a team-high 42 steals (2.63 per contest) through 16 games and is second in rebounds with 62.

- Jamaysha Bernard tops the Lady Braves in blocks as she's swatted away six this year.

- 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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