LORMAN, Miss. – After opening the season with four straight games away from home, the Alcorn State University women's basketball team returns home to host Prairie View A&M to also open SWAC play on Monday evening starting at 5:30 p.m. inside the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
The Lady Braves (0-4) went right down to the wire last time out against New Orleans as Alcorn jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first quarter and held a two-point halftime lead. After the Privateers rallied in the third quarter to take the lead, it was a wild fourth quarter. Alcorn fought back to move out to a five-point lead with just under three minutes to play, but New Orleans closed on a 10-1 run to grab the 66-62 victory.
Kirdis Clark, Deja Mitchell and Diamond Hall all scored in double-figures to lead the way for the Lady Braves, as the trio combined for 43 points. Clark's 19 points was a season-high going 8-12 from the field, adding a three-pointer, a pair of free throws, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in 33 minutes. Mitchell's 13 points were also a season-high, connecting on 5-8 from the field, three free throws, six rebounds, three assists and a steal in 30 minutes. Hall's 11 points also gave her a season-high in points, going 5-10 from the field, a three-pointer, five rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes.
From a team standpoint, Alcorn set season-highs in the game against New Orleans in field goals made (25), rebounds (38), assists (15), steals (18) and blocked shots (2).
Through the first four games of the season, Clark leads the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game. Hall adds 9.3 points per game and Cayla Obillo at nine per contest. Mitchell leads the team in rebounding at 4.5 per game, Obillo leads in assists at 12, Clark leads in steals with 10 and also leads in blocks with two. Clark, Obillo, Mitchell and Nia McCalphia have started all four games, with Tyginae Wright starting three and Hall with the other start.
Alcorn swept last year's meetings with Prairie View A&M taking the first meeting in Texas, 68-63, and then a dominating 77-39 second meeting in Lorman.
The Lady Braves led the SWAC in steals per game (11.50), fourth in assists (11.50), fifth in field goal percentage (37.6), fifth in three-point percentage (26.6), fourth in turnover margin (-0.75) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.62).Obillo ranks eighth in the SWAC in assists per game (3.0) and in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.8) and two rank in the top-five in the conference in steals per game led by Clark coming in second (2.5) and Obillo in fourth (2.3).
Prairie View A&M (1-3) fell short on the road at Southern on Saturday, 51-44, in the conference opener for both teams. Diana Rosenthal and Kennedi Heard led the Panthers with 11 points apiece as Heard tallied a double-double with 10 rebounds. Stats through the first three games for Prairie View A&M has Rosenthal leading the team at 14.7 points and seven rebounds per game. Heard and Kennedy Paul add 9.3 points per game and Tiffany Tullis is at eight points per game.
