Women's Basketball | 1/24/2020 10:08:00 AM

Alcorn Looks To Build Upon Win Streak During Upcoming Homestand

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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program plays host to the Alabama A&M Lady Bulldogs and Alabama State Lady Hornets as it looks to keep its hot stretch rolling through conference play.

The Lady Braves (8-10, 4-2 SWAC) are one of the most feared defensive basketball programs in the NCAA this season as its constant full-court press style of basketball has paid dividends. Alcorn has led the nation in steals (259), steals per game (14.4) and turnovers forced (28.39) for the majority of the 2019-20 season and sports the country's tenth-best turnover margin at 7.44.

Junior Kirdis Clark is the reigning SWAC Player of the Week as she became the second Lady Brave to win the award this season. She won the honor after racking up a career-high 23 points and nine field goals in a comeback win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday with 17 of those points coming in the second half. In the two games last weekend at UAPB and MVSU, she averaged 19 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist per contest while shooting .682 (15-for-22).

Clark has been on a tear since the beginning of SWAC action, averaging 14.3 points per night, averaged two steals a game and is making nearly 50 percent of her shots from the floor (49.3).

Junior LaRae Rascoe has taken over the role of go-to scored for the Lady Braves, averaging a 12.9 points per game, fifth-best in the SWAC, to go along with a team-high 25 triples (seventh in SWAC) and 72 field goals (sixth in SWAC). She's been even better since conference play revved up, averaging 15.2 points per contest as well as 2.7 steals and 2.2 assists.

Senior Jada Hargrove is the only other player in purple and gold to average double-figure points, contributing 10.2 a night.

Sophomore Diamond Hall has been a machine in the rebounding department since SWAC play started, pulling down 50 rebounds (8.3 per game) including ten or more boards in three of the six games. Hall also leads the teams in assists in league action with 14 and has made exactly half of her shots (20-of-40).

Junior Nyenkeer Malwal broke onto the scene in a big way against Mississippi Valley State on Saturday, exploding for season-highs in points (26), field goals (11), rebounds (8) and field-goal percentage (.917).

"Both Alabama teams are coming in with similar conference records to ours, we must make a stand and take care of home court," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "Alabama A&M has a great inside-out game and Alabama State will have a great inside presence."

Alabama A&M (7-9, 3-2 SWAC) opened up conference play sluggish, falling at Grambling State and Jackson State but have now rattled off three consecutive victories versus UAPB, MVSU and Alabama State.

AAMU is excellent at earning second chance opportunities, ranking top-15 nationally in offensive boards per game at 15.9. The maroon and gray take care of the basketball as they lead the SWAC with only 264 turnovers on the year while pacing the league in scoring margin (0.8).

While the Lady Bulldogs had two Preseason All-SWAC selections in Elexis Evans and Nigeria Jones, Dariauna Lewis has become the biggest playmaker for the visitors from Huntsville. Lewis is either the best or second-best in the conference for blocks (28), field goals (104), points per game (16.9), rebounds per game (9.9) and free throws made (63). She also ranks fourth and seventh in the NCAA regarding offensive rebounds per game (4.6) and field-goal percentage (65.0), respectively.

Alabama State (5-11, 2-3 SWAC) has dropped two-in-a-row to UAPB and Alabama A&M coming into the weekend while picking up its conference wins versus Grambling and Valley.

The black and gold are adept at getting to the free-throw line as they are top-30 nationally in free throw attempts (382) and nearly top-50 in free throws made (247).

Similar to their counterparts in A&M, the Lady Hornets are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, ranking tenth with an average of 16.1 per contest.

Courtney Lee is the girl in command when on the floor for ASU, placing third in the conference for assists per game (3.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.31).

Preseason All-SWAC Second Teamer Ayana Emmanuel will make the Lady Braves pay if they send her to the charity stripe, converting a league-best 85.2 percent of her free-throws which places among the top-40 in the nation.

NOTES
- Alcorn will face Alabama A&M for the 45th time in program history with the Lady Braves winning 28 of those meetings. AAMU has won three straight matchups in the series.

- The Lady Braves hold a 59-29 advantage all-time over Alabama State. The Lady Hornets swept both contests during 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.

- Rascoe continues to be a huge offseason acquisition for the Lady Braves, notching 14 double-digit scoring nights in 17 tries. Rascoe is averaging a team-high 12.9 points a contest while tallying 43 steals, 31 assists and a club-best 25 three-pointers since transferring over from Ancilla College. In six conference games, she's accumulated 15.2 points a game with a team-best 16 steals, ten threes on 27 attempts (.370) and is knocking down 38.6 percent of her shots from the floor.

- Diamond Hall recorded the team's first double-double of the season on January 13 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.

- Overall, Hall fronts the squad in the rebounding department, totaling 90 through 18 games for an average of 5.0 boards a night, both team-bests. She has turned her game up a notch all-around in conference, averaging a squad-high 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists to go along with 8.8 points.

- Jada Hargrove has notched ten double-figure scoring performances and is contributing 10.2 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 36 assists, has swiped a team-high 44 steals (2.44 per contest) through 18 games and is second in rebounds with 65.

- Jamaysha Bernard tops the Lady Braves in blocks as she's swatted away seven 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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