LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program got most of its contributions from off the bench as the reserves accounted for 38 of the team's 73 points (.520 percent) in a 73-63 victory.
The Lady Braves' (9-11, 5-3 SWAC) tied for its largest positive rebounding margin of the season, out-rebounding the Lady Hornets by a ten-plus margin (43-33). Alcorn also produced 20 steals for the second time in 2019-20 and for the first time against a division one foe.
In the first half, the purple and gold held caused Alabama State to commit nearly as many turnovers (21) as it did points (23).
Freshman
Tyginae Wright stole the show in front of the hometown faithful dropping 14 points in 14 minutes including 4-of-7 from three to go along with a block and a steal. Coming into the night she had only appeared in three games while logging 12 minutes and had only scored two points.
Junior
Kirdis Clark has been on a roll in SWAC play as this was her fifth straight game with double-digit points and seventh time in eight conference games. Clark led the Lady Braves with 18 points, a career-high six steals and three assists as well as pulling down five boards.
Senior
Charisma Walker had one of her most well-rounded outings of the campaign, accumulating 11 points and a season-high eight rebounds, fronting the purple and gold in the latter.
Alabama State (5-13, 2-5 SWAC) was knocking down shots despite the loss on the scoreboard as the Lady Hornets went 21-for-44 (.477) from the floor and 6-of-15 (.400) on three-pointers.
Aniyah Smith (18), Jayla Crawford (16) and Ayana Emmanuel (12) all logged double-figure points for the girls from Montgomery while Crawford led the team with five steals.
Other notable performers for the black and gold included Dereseia Randle hauling in a game-high ten rebounds and Courtney Lee dishing out a game-best six assists.
Alabama State began the contest by scoring the first five points before Alcorn responded with four unanswered of its own. The two squads would tie three times over the remainder of the quarter but a free throw by senior
Toddriana Isler gave the Lady Braves a 15-14 lead after one.
The second quarter was a back-and-forth affair as the lead changed hands four times over the first five minutes of the frame with ahead 21-19 at the media timeout. The Lady Hornets and Lady Braves offenses only mustered a combined ten points the rest of the way as the home side took a 27-23 lead into the break.
The third period saw the Lady Braves attempt to open up the game a little bit as a deep ball by
Tyginae Wright upped the advantage to nine (38-29). Alabama State would claw back to within two at 45-43 but seven straight Alcorn points to end the third gave the purple and gold a nine-point lead once again heading into the fourth (52-43).
The girls from Lorman started to slowly break the contest open as they scored 13 of the first 15 points in the final frame to go up 65-49. The black and gold would not see the deficit go below ten points the rest of the evening as the Lady Braves bounce back from Saturday's setback to win 73-63.
Alcorn heads south to Baton Rouge on Saturday afternoon to battle the Lady Jaguars of Southern University at 3 p.m. inside the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
NOTES
- Alcorn improved to 60-29 all-time over Alabama State.
- Despite winning the turnover battle (32-23), Alcorn lost in points off turnovers (24-21).
- The Lady Braves held the upper-hand in second chance points (15-9), bench points (38-24), points in the paint (36-24) and fast break points (23-14).
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
On Tyginae Wright's Breakout Performance:
"We got a lot of weapons over there so that was one that nobody had seen. We tried her one night before and she wasn't confident, I had a long talk with her and I said 'you're our Stephen Curry, shoot the ball' so she didn't hesitate tonight, she pulled it every time she was supposed to pull it and that was the difference maker that gave us the separation that we needed along with our defense and it was all we needed."
On Charisma Walker's solid game:
"We had a ton of shots, I think we held them to only 44 shots and we shot the ball 66 times and we couldn't hit black at midnight so we were just able to keep going and Charisma did an excellent job at the pitch-post action, sweeping through it and she made shots when we needed her to. Finishing is something we work on and some nights you have a bad night but I was just proud of the ladies in the way they hung in there, they continued to rebound the ball and shoot it, they didn't get discouraged and sometimes you just have poor shooting nights."
On what to expect from Southern on Saturday:
"We expect the same kind of defense we play, we know they are going to be tough so we have to get after it but we just got to come out and shoot the ball well, inside and outside, we're going to have to play great post defense. They run a lot of high-post action so our job is to defend but most importantly, I'm not concerned about our defense, it's our offense, we've got to be able to score and got to be able to make those high percentage shots."
Freshman Guard/Forward Tyginae Wright:
On coming off the bench to make an impact on the game:
"Once she called my name she just told me that 'you're in here to shoot, that's your job' so that's what I got to do. I'm open and I know I can make it so I just shot it."
On becoming a proficient three-point shooter:
"My dad is a shooter as well so it's kind of just inherited in me. It's just a natural thing and I never really practice on it, it just came to me naturally."
On the biggest adjustment she's had to make this season:
"Having to be a bigger impact down low and getting rebounds because we're a defensive team so definitely defense is a key to us winning. I just have to work on that rebounding and just be fast going through my footwork and things."
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