Lady Braves Complete Season Sweep Over MVSU With Strong Fourth Quarter

LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program fended off the Delta Devilettes as they got three clean chances at the game-tying three-pointer but could not get it to fall, resulting in a 63-60 win for the home squad.

The Lady Braves (10-14, 6-6 SWAC) were blazing hot from the field in the first half, connecting on 16-of-30 shots (.533). While the purple and gold could not keep up the torrid pace in the second half, the girls from Lorman did conclude the night with a .450 (27-for-60) overall field-goal percentage.

Senior Jada Hargrove was relatively quiet on the scoring front (eight points) but made up for it in a huge way with a career-high seven steals and a tied for game-best five assists. Her seven steals made her the first Lady Brave since Alexus Freeman in November of 2017 to log seven-plus steals in a single contest.

Freshman Cayla Obillo shared the assist lead with Hargrove, tallying five as well to go along with eight points and two steals of her own.

The junior duo of LaRae Rascoe and Kirdis Clark topped the Lady Braves in scoring on the afternoon with each girl accumulating 13 points on six field goals.

Senior Charisma Walker tied her season-best in rebounds, snagging eight boards to lead all game participants.

Mississippi Valley State (2-21, 1-11 SWAC) was able to edge Alcorn in the turnover department, committing 24 compared to the Lady Braves' 21.

Ayonna Cotton fronted the green and red with 18 points while Azaria Howard (14) and Shelli Thigpen each broke the double-figure threshold. Howard and Thigpen both pulled down six rebounds apiece for a team-high.

The opening quarter provided a sneak peek into how back-and-forth this game would be as the two squads saw the score tied on five separate occasions through the first ten minutes of play. After a triple by Rascoe knotted things at 13, Hargrove's layup with 32 seconds left in the period gave the purple and gold its first lead of the night at the first quarter intermission, 15-13.

The second quarter saw Alcorn add onto its 5-0 run to end the first by putting together another six unanswered to go up eight (21-13). Valley chipped away at that advantage, whittling all the way down to two when the clock hit triple zeroes as Coach Pruitt's bunch went into the halftime locker room with a 34-32 upper-hand.

MVSU reclaimed the lead coming out of halftime, scoring six of the first eight points in the second half to move ahead, 38-36. The two teams would lock horns for the ensuing 7:19 as the green and red possessed a three-point, 47-44 advantage heading into the final frame.

The tightly contested ballgame continued to keep fans on the edge of their seats as four more lead changes ensued over the first seven minutes of the fourth as The Valley staked a 58-57 lead with just under three minutes to go courtesy of a triple by Cotton. Both sides would go quiet as neither side could muster any offense over the next minute and 37 seconds. After the two clubs traded jumpers, Rascoe put the home squad ahead for good with a layup at the 39 second mark followed by two subsequent clutch free throws by Cayla Obillo. MVSU would get three clean looks at a game-tying three-pointer at the end of regulation but failed to capitalize as Alcorn snapped a three-game losing streak to escape by a final score of 63-60.

The purple and gold will look to lock up another season sweep on Monday evening when they face the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Lady Golden Lions at 5:30 p.m.
 
NOTES
- Alcorn now holds a 55-31 advantage all-time versus Mississippi Valley State as the Lady Braves have won four-in-a-row over the Delta Devilettes.

- The game was a wild seesaw affair as the fans inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex got to witness 11 ties and 11 lead changes over 40 minutes of regulation basketball.

- The Lady Braves won every miscellaneous and sub-category in the box score, edging the Delta Devilettes in points off turnovers (28-23), second chance points (13-11), bench points (27-22), points in the paint (38-32) and fast break points (22-9).
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
 
On anything being possible in conference play:
"That's something we expected from them, we expected them to come out and be scrappy while giving us everything that they had. [Ayonna] Cotton made a couple of threes at the end there to keep them [MVSU] in it but lady luck was on our side and [Azaria] Howard missed two key free throws at the end and LaRae Rascoe hit two key baskets for us so we were just able to come out on top."
 
On the defense imposing their will to slow down Valley at the end:
"They [Valley] couldn't get the shots that they wanted to and they were trying to run the overload on that left side to get Azaria Howard the ball, they just couldn't cash in. I think our defense did a great job and enabled us to pull away at the end."
 
On cutting down on the turnovers:
"I think at the very beginning when they came out in the 1-2-2 it rattled us a little bit and we tried to rush our way through it instead of taking our time. Those are all the types of mistakes a freshman makes, whenever you got a freshman coming in running point guard or sub in a freshman, they're going to make some mistakes but their learning from it and getting better every game."
 
Senior guard Jada Hargrove
 
On being a much needed victory to get back in the win column:
"We're coming off a three-game losing streak so I feel it was very important to come back, protect the house and get back onto the winning side of things."
 
On what she told her teammates during the losing streak:
"We are the best team in the SWAC, I feel like mental toughness and inner growth from some of our younger girls was where we really struggled so we were able to implement maturity, trying to stay connected and bond together during those tough times so we could come out with the win, which we did that tonight."
 
What's the biggest difference between the team's defense this year opposed to teams in the past?:
"We're not letting people do what they want to do. We're going to run, we're going to trap, we're going to out hustle you. We will rebound and make a lot of noise and we're going to convert all those turnovers to try and make it hurt as much as we can."
 
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