WICHITA, Kan. – A strong first-half showing for the Alcorn women's basketball team fell short as Wichita State used a dominant third quarter to take down the Lady Braves 71-53 at Charles Koch Arena Monday night.
Senior Kirdis Clark finished the night with her second double-digit scoring effort in as many games, posting a team-best 11 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Cayla Obillo followed her career day at SLU with an eight-point performance, accounting for two of the Lady Braves' 10 total buckets from beyond the arc.
The first half belonged to Alcorn as Tyginae Wright started the hot stretch with a pair of jumpers, handing the Lady Braves the early 4-2 lead and an edge that would hold well into the second quarter. Alcorn also dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Shockers by an 11-5 margin and converting those into seven crucial second-chance points, seeing four Lady Braves tally multiple rebounds. Diamond Hall's three-pointer to put the Lady Braves ahead 17-12 and punctuated an impressive start, solidifying the squad's largest lead of the quarter in the closing minute.
Alcorn continued to roll in the second as Hall drained another trey to extend the visiting club's advantage to six, 20-14, acting as its largest cushion of the contest. Wichita State erased the deficit with an 8-2 run lasting over the ensuing four minutes, swinging the lead back to the home club for the first time in nearly 13 minutes of play. Both teams traded blows in the final minutes of the half as the dynamic duo of Obillo and Clark each lifted a three to keep Alcorn withing striking distance of the Shockers, 29-27, heading to intermission.
A Deja Mitchell jumper in the opening minute of the third deadlocked the contest 29-29, but the Shockers began to flip the script with a 7-0 streak that ran until the 7:38 mark. A Clark trey and Aysha Kirkland jumper each brought it back within three for the Lady Braves, but they would get no closer as WSU ended on another 9-2 run and outscored Alcorn by a 22-13 margin in the third.
Wichita State cruised in the final stanza, as an Asia Strong fastbreak at the 3:40 mark handed the Shockers a 19-point advantage that held until the final buzzer.
Strong paced the Shockers with a game-high 16 points, going 8-for-15 from the floor and recording two blocks, while Adams nabbed eight boards.
Alcorn remains idle until an in-state meeting against Ole Miss on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m.
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