Lady Braves Record Largest Conference Victory In 18 Years

LORMAN, Miss. – The Alcorn State University women's basketball program defeated Prairie View by 38 points (77-39), its largest margin of victory against a SWAC opponent since beating UAPB by 44 on February 11, 2002.

The Lady Braves (13-16, 9-8 SWAC) held PVAMU to the lowest point total given up since November 17, 2017 against Blue Mountain College and for the first time against a SWAC foe since giving up 39 in a win over Mississippi Valley State in February of 2016.

The girls from Lorman shot nearly 50 percent from the field (33-for-70, .471) while notching its most assists versus a division one competitor this year (21) plus swiping at least 20 steals for the third time.

Freshman Nia McCalphia put together her first double-figure scoring night of her career, posting a season-best 12 points and tying a season-high for steals with four on 5-of-7 (.714) shooting.

Junior Kirdis Clark led all scorers with 15 while tying a career-high with four assists as well.

Sophomore Diamond Hall was a force in every facet of the contest, accumulating a balanced stat line of eight points, a game-best eight rebounds and five steals plus a block.

Senior Toddriana Isler cashed in 12 points with a season-best three assists plus three boards.

Junior LaRae Rascoe had a first quarter to remember with all ten of her points on the evening.

Freshman Aja Wheeler joined the Lady Braves laundry list of season-bests, topping her previous high watermark in steals at five in just 11 minutes of action.

Prairie View A&M (12-17, 9-8 SWAC) did not have a single player reach double-digit points, the first time Alcorn has held a team without one in three years.

The Lady Panthers made only one three-pointer in 11 tries (.091) and shot a dismal 25 percent from the court (13-of-52).

Kennedy Paul fronted the visitors with nine points as Jhyrah Cobb pulled in a team-best seven rebounds on the evening.

Ke'Asia Williams led off the night with a jumper but that's where the good vibes ended for the Lady Panthers as Alcorn dropped the next 21 points including 23 of the final 25 to take control of the contest, 23-4 after one. Rascoe led the offensive onslaught in the first, contributing ten of the team's 23 points (.435 percent) while Wheeler guided the defense to eight steals, four of which came from her.

Alcorn was able to extend its lead to as much as 21 in the second before Prairie View started to chip away. An 13-2 surge by the Lady Panthers put them back in the race, closing the gap down to ten (31-21) at the 2:08 mark. The Lady Braves would make one more bucket than the Lady Panthers in the final two minutes of the half to hold a 35-23 halftime advantage.

PV looked as if it would cut the deficit to single digits when it drained a jumper to make it a ten-point ballgame (37-27) a minute-and-a-half into the third but the girls from Lorman took off on a 18-2 gut-punching surge to make it 55-29 before ending the period with a 55-33 lead.

Alcorn never looked back, outscoring Prairie View by 16 while holding the Lady Panthers to just six fourth quarter points to win this one going away, 77-39.

Coach Pruitt and the Lady Braves will host the Texas Southern Lady Tigers for Senior Night on Saturday at 3 p.m. where seniors Jada Hargrove, Toddriana Isler and Charisma Walker will be honored.
 
NOTES

- Alcorn owns a 58-26 advantage in the series with Prairie View A&M. Under Coach Pruitt, the Lady Braves are now 5-5 versus the Lady Panthers.

- The four points allowed to PVAMU in the first quarter was the lowest surrendered by the Lady Braves in a quarter all season as Alcorn capitalized on ten turnovers while committing none.

- The 21-0 explosion in the opening frame was the longest run of consecutive points scored in a game during the 2019-20 campaign for Coach Pruitt's squad.

- The Lady Braves have more than tripled its win total from 2018-19 (4) and have the most wins in a campaign (13) since the 2011-12 squad that won 14 games.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Courtney G. Pruitt
 
Opening statement:
"We came out on a roll, being able to score and we held them to only a couple in the first quarter, we were able to play everybody and get everybody going. It was an exciting game from start to finish and I was very proud of the ladies."
 
How dominant was that performance?:
"I think it was very important especially after coming off a good win on Saturday against Southern, we wanted to prove that it wasn't a fluke and that it's one of those games that we can put together a couple games in-a-row and to do it at home. It was important for our seniors to go out with a bang and we just want to finish the right way before we go into the conference tournament."
 
What was more impressive; scoring 77 points or allowing 39 points?:
"I would say holding Prairie View to 39 points because it's important for us to play great defense as we were able to hold Southern to way under their average on Saturday and just to be able to continue to carry that over into tonight, making them shoot the ball poorly. That shows you that defensively we forced them into 31 turnovers while we had 20 steals, we were just playing our brand of basketball."
 
Freshman guard Nia McCalphia
 
Opening Statement:
"It was a big win because we are trying to fight to keep our position in the SWAC. Coach has been on us a lot lately on coming out and starting the game off good, so we just tried to execute and do what she wanted us to do."
 
On her game plan to attack Prairie View's defense:
"Coach has been on me about shooting the ball so I had to be comfortable in shooting tonight, I had to step up because one of my teammates got injured so I had to do what I had to do."
 
What's the key to being relaxed on the court?:
"I can't put my finger on it yet, we have our days but we got to better at that though."
 
#FearTheBrave