Women's Basketball | 2/14/2020 10:50:00 AM

Alcorn Welcomes MVSU & UAPB For Weekend Homestand

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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program looks to halt a three-game skid this weekend as Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff invade The Reservation.

The Lady Braves (9-14, 5-6 SWAC) have led the nation in steals (333), steals per game (14.5) and turnovers forced (27.43) since November 26, 2019 and have not relinquished that crown since. The purple and gold also hold a top-15 ranking for turnover margin (6.48). Coach Pruitt's crew places inside the top-three in the SWAC for assists (276), free throw attempts (440), offensive rebounds per game (14.83), scoring offense (64.0) and three-point field goal defense (29.6).

Senior Jada Hargrove has notched 13 double-figure scoring performances and is contributing an even 10.0 points per night. Hargrove holds the team lead at 45 assists, has swiped a team-high 53 steals (2.30 per contest - fourth in SWAC) through 23 games and is second in rebounds with 88 (3.8 a night).

Sophomore Diamond Hall fronts the squad in the rebounding department, totaling 114 (seventh in SWAC) through 23 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 6.7 rebounds plus 1.9 assists and 7.7 points.

Hall is coming off her second double-double of the season (both versus Grambling State) and third of her career in Monday's game at GSU. The guard/forward from Moultrie, Georgia had ten points and 12 rebounds with the latter being a game-best.

Junior LaRae Rascoe has notched 16 double-digit scoring nights in 22 tries. She's averaging a team-high 12.3 points a contest (eighth in SWAC) while tallying a team-high 53 steals (2.41 per game - third in SWAC) and 31 three-pointers (seventh in SWAC) as well as 41 assists since transferring in during the summer. In 11 conference games, the guard from Indianapolis has accumulated a club-best 12.9 points a game with 26 steals, a team-best 23 assists, 16 threes on 39 attempts (.410) and is knocking down 41.5 percent of her shots from the floor.

The trio of Hargrove, Rascoe, and Hall all rank inside the SWAC's top-five in steals while they each land on among the top-ten in the conference for steals per game.

Junior Kirdis Clark has continually stepped up big during key moments in conference play, averaging 12.1 points per contest while making 43.1 percent of her shots and swiping a squad-high 27 steals. Eight of her nine double-figure scoring performances on the campaign has come in SWAC contests as well.

"We've got get on the right side of the WIN column. MVSU will throw everything at us and so will UAPB," said head coach Courtney G. Pruitt. "Both gave us tough games the last time around and we must be defensively sound and finish around the rim in order to be successful. 

Mississippi Valley State (2-20, 1-10 SWAC) picked up its first conference win of the campaign to open the month, toppling Grambling State (68-57) to get off the schneid.

The Delta Devilettes are the best team in the conference in three-point field-goal percentage (31.6) while committing the fewest fouls per game in the league (19.1).

Ayonna Cotton and Erin Smith are The Valley's biggest three-point assassins, both ranking in the top-five in the SWAC for triples a game at 1.80 and 1.78, respectively.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-17, 3-8 SWAC) have fallen in three straight as well after beating GSU on February 1 but took the Lady Braves down to the wire in their last meeting, a 77-75 Alcorn victory where the purple and gold needed a defensive stop at the buzzer to secure the win.

The Lady Golden Lions deploy Nissa Sam-Grant to patrol the paint and she's done a fantastic job to date. Sam-Grant ranks second in the SWAC in both blocks (35) and blocks per game (1.75).

Kyeonia Harris will be on the floor for the majority of the contest barring foul trouble, leading the league in minutes played a night at 34.47 to go along with the best free-throw percentage in the conference (79.7).

NOTES
- Alcorn holds a 54-31 advantage all-time versus Mississippi Valley State as the Lady Braves have won three-in-a-row over the Delta Devilettes.

 - The Lady Braves will battle Arkansas-Pine Bluff on the hardwood for the 52nd time on Monday. The purple and gold have gone 37-14 in its meetings with the Lady Golden Lions after taking the first matchup of the season in a 77-75 thriller at Pine Bluff.

- The Lady Braves have more than doubled its win total from 2018-19 (4) and are tied for its most wins in a campaign (9) since the 2015-16 squad had 11 victories.

- Diamond Hall has recorded the team's only two double-doubles of the season, both versus 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 first meeting.

- 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.

- 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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