Women's Basketball | 1/31/2020 9:00:00 AM

Lady Braves Brace For Pivotal Matchup At Southern

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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program can move into a tie for third place and possibly a three-way tie for second place with a victory over the Lady Jaguars Saturday at 3 p.m. inside the F.G. Clark Activity Center.

The Lady Braves (9-11, 5-3 SWAC) have led the nation in steals (293), steals per game (14.7) and turnovers forced (28.35) since November 26, 2019 and have not relinquished that crown since. The purple and gold also hold a top-ten ranking for turnover margin (7.55). Coach Pruitt's crew places inside the top-50 in the NCAA regarding free throw attempts (394) and offensive rebounds per game (15.2) as well.

On the conference-level, the girls from Lorman are among the three best teams in the SWAC relating to assists (244), assists per game (12.2), free throws made (242), rebounds (720), scoring offense (64.5) and three-point field goal defense (29.0).

The trio of senior Jada Hargrove, junior LaRae Rascoe, and sophomore Diamond Hall all rank inside the SWAC's top-five in steals while they each land on among the top-eight in the conference for steals per game. Rascoe and Hargrove are top-40 in the country with a team-high 47 steals each while Hall cracked the top-70 at 43 (2.15 average).

Hargrove has notched 11 double-figure scoring performances this season and is contributing 10.1 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 39 assists, has swiped a tied for team-high 47 steals (2.35 per contest) through 20 games and is second in rebounds with 78 (3.9 a night).

In eight conference games, Rascoe's accumulated 14.0 points a game with 20 steals, a team-best 20 assists, 12 threes on 33 attempts (.364) and is knocking down 39.1 percent of her shots from the floor.

Hall has turned her game up a notch all-around in conference, averaging a squad-high 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists to go along with 8.1 points.

Junior Kirdis Clark has been blistering hot since the beginning of SWAC play, averaging a club-best 14.5 points per contest while making 45.7 percent of her shots and swiping a squad-high 21 steals.

"This weekend will be a big test for our team. Southern has a great defensive game and does an excellent job of turning their defense into offense," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "We must be able to handle pressure and score when we have the ball in our possession."

Southern (8-11, 6-2 SWAC) is coming into the contest smoking hot, winning its last four matchups by an average margin of 22.0 points per game.

 The Lady Jaguars are the most disciplined team you will find in the SWAC, turning the ball over only 16.3 times per game and has been superb at limiting opposing offenses by allowing a league-low 61.2 points a night. The light blue and gold also love to launch threes, as they are second in the conference for triples made per game (4.9) and percentage (.306).

Brittany Rose is the team's leading scorer, contributing an average of 10.2 points. Taneara Moore tops the rebounding charts for SU, pulling in 4.8 boards per contest. Ceundra McGhee places sixth in the conference with 14 blocks on the campaign while Caitlin Davis is among the SWAC's top-ten assisters, dishing out 2.5 per matchup.

NOTES
- Alcorn leads the all-time series with Southern (48-31) and have dropped five-in-a-row to the Lady Jaguars.

- Kirdis Clark was named SWAC Player of the Week on January 21, becoming 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 (1/20) with 17 of those points coming in the second half. In the two games that weekend at UAPB and MVSU, she averaged 19 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist per contest while shooting .682 (15-for-22).

- 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 15 double-digit scoring nights in 19 tries. Rascoe is averaging a team-high 12.7 points a contest (seventh in SWAC) while tallying a tied for club-best 47 steals (2.47 per game) and 27 three-pointers (seventh in SWAC) as well as 38 assists since transferring over from Ancilla College.

- Hargrove has proven to be deadly when given the opportunity for free buckets, draining 41 of 47 free-throw attempts for an 87.2 percentage, which would be top-20 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 2.4 per contest.

- 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.

- Hall fronts the squad in the rebounding department, totaling 98 (sixth in SWAC) through 20 games for an average of 4.9 boards a night (ninth in SWAC), both team-bests.

- 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.

Saturday's game can be heard on the radio on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond on the call.

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