Women's Basketball | 1/3/2020 10:00:00 AM

Lady Braves Open SWAC Play With Texas Road Swing

Alcorn Game Notes | Live Stats (Prairie View A&M) | Live Video (Prairie View A&M) | Live Audio
 
LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program will remain in the Lone Star State to begin conference action as they take on Prairie View A&M at 3 p.m. Saturday and Texas Southern at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

The Lady Braves (4-8) are the top dog in many different categories as they start the SWAC slate, leading the nation in steals (182), steals per game (15.2) and turnovers forced per game (29.33) to go along with a conference-best scoring defense (66.3) and turnover margin (9.08).

Senior Jada Hargrove is the glue that holds together the purple and gold's offensive prowess, pacing the Lady Braves in points per game (11.8), assists (29), field goals made (52) and minutes played (328) while making 96.7 percent of her free throws, the second-highest rate in the NCAA. Hargrove has also been stellar on defense as well, ranking top-40 nationwide in steals (32) while topping the club with 46 rebounds (3.8 a game).

Junior LaRae Rascoe combines with Hargrove to form a solid one-two scoring punch at the guard position for Alcorn, with Rascoe right behind her at 11.7 points a night. Rascoe is also top-five in the SWAC with 27 steals for an average of 2.45 per game and is by far the Lady Braves' biggest deep threat, making 15 triples on the campaign. She is shooting over 40 percent on both her two-point and three-point attempts, best on the team.

Sophomore Diamond Hall moved into a tie with Rascoe for second on the squad at 27 steals, fourth-best in the league and is top-seven in the SWAC at 2.25 steals a ballgame. Hall is currently tied with junior Jamaysha Bernard for the most blocks in 2019-20, as both players have recorded five so far.

Freshman Cayla Obillo has come on strong offensively over the past two contests, topping double-figure points in each game and leading the Lady Braves in scoring both times. She's averaged 13.5 points in that span and has been Coach Pruitt's most efficient ball-handler on the season as she's compiled a 1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio (23 assists, 20 turnovers).

"The ladies are excited about conference play. They've trained relentlessly all preseason and are ready to see where they stand," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "Both Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern are well-coached teams with talented players. This will be a tough, great road test but the Lady Braves are ready for the challenge."

Prairie View A&M (3-9) faced a gauntlet of power five competitors in their non-conference schedule, falling to 0-9 against division one foes such as Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas A&M, Florida and Wisconsin while beating its three lower-level opponents (Texas A&M-Kingsville, Wiley and Huston-Tillotson) handily.

PVAMU has been adept at forcing turnovers and holding onto the ball, placing top-35 in the NCAA and second behind Alcorn in the SWAC with a 4.92 turnover margin and an average of 20.67 turnovers forced as well as a league-low 15.8 turnovers (offensive) per game. The Panthers are top-three in the conference as well for assist-to-turnover ratio (0.72), assists (136), steals (120) and three-pointers made (60).

The Panthers do not have many girls who stand out as they spread the love around on the stat sheet but two players to monitor are Bernesha Peters and Ke'Asia Williams. Peters is third in the conference in three-pointers (19 / 1.7 per game), top-eight in assists (30 / 2.7 per game) and top-ten for steals (21 / 1.9 per game). Williams ranks fourth in the SWAC with 3.9 boards per night while cracking the top-ten in blocks at seven.

Texas Southern (5-6) have had a nearly identically rigorous non-conference portion of its schedule but managed to pull off five victories of NCAA Division I squads, taking down Texas-Rio Grande Valley, Hawaii, Tulane and Texas-Arlington on the road while clipping Rice at home.

TSU leads the SWAC in a multitude of categories including assist-to-turnover ratio (0.79), assists per game (13.0), field-goal percentage (38.6), three-pointers per game (5.9) and winning percentage (45.5). While they trail the Lady Braves in the steals department, they still rank top-50 nationally in total steals (133) while their per game average is top-15 at 12.1 per contest.

The maroon and gray are led into battle by Preseason Player of the Year and All-Conference First Teamer Niya Mitchell. Mitchell is second in the SWAC among most major categories including field-goal percentage (51.1), rebounds (111), rebounds per game (10.1), steals (42) and steals per game (3.45) while ranking top-20 in the NCAA in the latter two stats. She is also third in the league at 14.0 points per night.

The Tigers have also gotten a huge boost from Ciani Cryor, a graduate transfer from Rutgers University. Cryor is currently the most dominant player in the conference this season, leading the SWAC in nine different areas; assist-to-turnover ratio (2.10), assists (84), assists per game (7.6), points (183), free throw attempts (62), free throws made (44), points per game (16.6), steals (42) and steals per game (3.82). She is top-five nationally in both assists categories while placing 14th and fifth in steals and steals per game in the country, respectively.

NOTES

- Alcorn will take the court against Prairie View A&M for the 83rd time in program history with the Lady Braves owning a 56-26 advantage in the series. PVAMU is currently on a three-game winning streak.

- The Lady Braves and Tigers of Texas Southern have duked it out 78 times prior to Monday's matchup with Alcorn holding a significant 55-23 edge all-time.

- After defeating Tennessee State (11/21) and Florida A&M (12/8) the Lady Braves defeated two non-conference division one foes in the same season for the first time since 2011-12, when the purple and gold beat Southeastern Louisiana plus Northwestern State in back-to-back contests. Alcorn has matched its win total from last year.

- 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 nine double-digit scoring nights in 11 tries. Rascoe is averaging 11.7 points a contest while tallying 27 steals and fronting the squad with 15 three-pointers since transferring over from Ancilla College.

- Jada Hargrove remains the go-to scorer and overall leader of this Lady Braves squad, notching eight double-figure scoring performances and is pacing the club at 11.8 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 29 assists, has swiped a teamhigh 32 steals through 12 games and is tops in rebounds with 46.

- Aysha Kirkland sits tied atop the rebounding per game leaderboard at 3.8 boards a night and is one behind Hargrove for the squad's best total at 45 rebounds.

- Diamond Hall and Jamaysha Bernard both top the Lady Braves in blocks as they've knocked 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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