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LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program will look to bounce back this weekend as it tries to knock off Jackson State and Grambling State.
The Lady Braves (9-12, 5-4 SWAC) are looking to right the ship after last weekend's defeat at Southern as they've lost two of three following a three-game winning streak.
As a unit, the relentless full-court pressure on defense has been a constant pain in the opposition's side all season long. Coach Pruitt's girls have led the nation in steals (309), steals per game (14.7), and turnovers forced for the past 72 consecutive days. The girls from Lorman do not expect to give up those leads anytime soon as the teams in second place are 30 steals, 0.9 steals per game and 3.66 turnovers forced per game behind them.
Junior
Kirdis Clark has been the catalyst on offense for the purple and gold during conference play, posting a team-high 14.1 points per game and 25 steals over nine contests while torching the court to the tune of 47-of-103 (.456).
Junior
LaRae Rascoe is the other Lady Brave to average double-digit points in SWAC action, accumulating 12.9 a night, knocking down 12 triples and dishing out a team-best 20 assists.
Sophomore
Diamond Hall has been Alcorn's biggest presence on both the offensive and defensive boards in conference, snagging 2.4 offensive boards a game and a club-high 6.9 rebounds, overall.
"We learned a lot from our first meeting with our rival. The ladies are excited to play this game on Saturday and will try to steal two-in-a-row on the road to right the ship," said head coach
Courtney G. Pruitt. "We've had time to rest and prepare mentally and physically for the second half of SWAC play."
Jackson State (11-8, 9-0 SWAC) have been unbeatable as of late, having not tasted defeat since a loss at Illinois State (77-55) back on December 19, 2019. The Lady Tigers have run roughshod over its conference foes, averaging a winning margin of 16.1 points per game.
The blue and white have been prolific most categories where height would be a factor. With four players six-feet or taller, JSU ranks second in the country for offensive rebounds a game (17.1), seventh in total rebounds per game (44.53) and top-45 in blocks per contest (4.5).
Six-foot-four junior Ameshya Williams is the tallest of the bunch, placing top-30 in offensive boards a night (3.9), top-25 in total blocks (47) and top-20 in blocks per game (2.47).
Preseason All-SWAC Second Team guard Kaisah Lucky has been brilliant with the ball in her hands as she's currently second only to Texas Southern's Ciani Cryor in assists (93) and assists per game (4.9) while being tied for the lead in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.58.
Grambling State (2-18, 1-8 SWAC) has lost eight straight after opening conference play with a victory including six of those losses coming by double-digit margins.
GSU is the SWAC's most accurate squad from the charity stripe, converting on 70.3 percent of its free throws and the Lady Tigers trail only Jackson State in both blocks per game (3.2) and total blocks (64).
The black and gold's brightest star is Justice Coleman who leads the Lady Tigers in points per game (14.2 – fourth in SWAC), field-goal percentage (.437 – fourth in SWAC) and free-throw percentage (.797 – third in SWAC).
NOTES
- Alcorn and Jackson State will meet on the hardwood for the 96th edition of this rivalry game on Saturday with JSU leading the all-time series 52-43. The Lady Braves will look to end a five-game losing streak to the Lady Tigers after falling at home earlier this season, 83-67.
- The Lady Braves face Grambling State on Monday in the 101st meeting all-time and will look to move ahead in the series as the two programs are tied with 50 wins each, courtesy of Alcorn's 80-54 home win last month.
- 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.
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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).
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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.
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Diamond Hall recorded the team's first and only double-double of the season so far 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.
- 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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