RUSTON, La. – Coming off a victory at home, the Alcorn Braves (2-3) got a little extra rest to prepare for Saturday's matchup in Ruston against Louisiana Tech (5-2), after widespread regional storms forced postponement of their Tuesday night Central Arkansas matchup. Saturday afternoon, it will be the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) vs. Conference USA (C-USA) at the Thomas Assembly Center with a 2 p.m. tipoff for broadcast on CUSA.tv. – marking the 10th edition of the matchup between the Braves and Lady Techsters.
THE GAME: Alcorn Braves (2-3) at Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (5-2)
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 3, at 2:00 p.m. CT
WHERE: Thomas Assembly Center (Ruston, La.)
WATCH LIVE: CUSA.tv
LIVE STATS: Louisiana Tech
LISTEN LIVE: WPRL 91.7 FM / Tune In
TICKETS: $7 - $9
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with everything Alcorn Women's Basketball this year by following the Braves social media platforms. You can follow
@AlcornSports on Instagram and
@BravesSports on Twitter.
SERIES VS. LOUISIANA TECH
With a little under 150 road miles between the schools, Saturday marks the 10th round of the series between these programs, dating back to 1981-82. The Lady Techsters have been perfect, holding a 9-0 lead. The tightest finish was a one-point, 62-61 LA Tech win in 05-06. The latest contest in the series was in 2017-18 with an 87-50 LA Tech win in Ruston.
LAST SEASON FOR THESE TEAMS
Alcorn completed the 2021-22 season with a 3-22 record, including two victories over SWAC opposition. Alcorn Head Coach
Nate Kilbert is in his third season and has a record of 12-38 with the Braves (191-384 career). Louisiana Tech went 24-10 a year ago, going 12-6 in Conference USA to top the West Division standings. went 9-19 a year ago, 4-12 in Atlantic Sun play. Louisiana Tech Head Coach Brooke Stoehr is in her seventh season leading the Techsters with 106-81 mark (177-139 career).
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BRAVES
The last time out was a same-day postponement of Tuesday's game against the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears, due to heavy wind, rain and tornado-bearing storms sweeping through the region. Prior to that, the Braves enjoyed the comforts of playing in the Davey L. Whitney Complex, earning their second consecutive home victory, this time in a comeback win over the New Orleans Privateers.
After falling behind 39-32 at the half, Alcorn's defensive intensity was the difference-maker to complete the rally.
Although the Privateers grew their lead to double-digits early in the third quarter, the Braves were undeterred and launched into a 7-0 scoring run with baskets from
Kiarra Henderson and
Cayla Obillo that would trim the deficit to just a single possession. Another run was needed, and delivered by
Destiny Brown and
Kailyn Watkins, as a Henderson free throw made it a one-point game just ahead of the final quarter.
The Braves defense forced UNO into seven fourth-quarter turnovers, and Alcorn took its first lead since the second quarter on an
Ashanti Backus three at 49-47. With UNO on top 55-53 at the under-five media timeout, Alcorn ended the game on a 12-3 run to secure the victory.
Brown's 18-point, five-rebound, five-block effort paved the way for the win, while
Zy'Nyia White scored 15 with seven rebounds and four assists. Henderson led all rebounders with 11 boards in the game.
LEADING THE WAY FOR ALCORN
Destiny Brown ranks second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in both blocks (9) and blocks per game (1.80). For her efforts, she ranks 45th nationally in bpg and 78th in blocks overall. She's also leading the Alcorn scoring effort with 10.6 ppg on 60.5 percent (23-for-38) shooting, and has averaged 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals per outing.
Zy'Nyia White is putting up 8.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg and 1.8 apg.
Tyginae Wright and
Cayla Obillo rank in a tie for 10th in the SWAC assist rankings with team highs of 12 apiece (2.5 apg). Wright also chips in 7.2 ppg and 2.0 rpg, while Obillo scores 3.2 ppg.
Kiarra Henderson is leading on the glass, collecting 5.0 rpg, while also scoring 5.0 per contest.
The Braves rank second in the SWAC in assists per game (12.0), turnovers forced per game (20.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (.70), coming in at third as a team in blocks per game (4.2).
HEAD COACH NATE KILBERT ON THIS WEEKEND'S MATCHUP
"We're making sure that we're doing the things we're supposed to be doing to disrupt what the opponent is doing, and using our defensive schemes to interrupt their flow."
"Against New Orleans, our pressure picked them up full court and forced them to play faster than they wanted. The shots they were making in the first half, you notice in the fourth quarter and late in the third weren't falling. They played extremely well for three quarters, and late in the ballgame you could see that we started to wear on them because we played so many players in that game."
ABOUT THE LOUISIANA TECH LADY TECHSTERS
Picked at No. 2 in the Conference USA Preseason Poll and Keiunna Walker selected the Preseason Player of the Year, it's no surprise that Louisiana Tech has jumped out to a 5-2 record, most recently departing the UNLV Thanksgiving Tournament with a 2-1 record.
The Techsters bounced back from a day-2 loss with a 71-52 victory over George Washington in the third-place game. Keiunna Walker proved the leader with a 20-point performance, including a 12-of-13 run at the free throw line. Louisiana Tech jumped out to an early lead but GWU's run in response tied things up to end the first. Raising the temperature from long range, GWU took command and broke out to a game-high 27-16 advantage in the second quarter, but Louisiana Tech engineered a 12-1 run to end the half in a 28-28 tie.
Heading into the final period, the Techsters held up a nine-point lead and heavily limited GWU in the final frame, building up to a team-high 67-47 lead, en route to holding the pace for a 71-52 victory.
On top of Walker's 20, Anna Larr Roberson cut close to her third double-double of the year with 14 points and nine rebounds. The pair dominated the scoring and the glass, but Robyn Lee and Salma Bates each logged 7 points. Overall, the Techsters shot 51 percent from the field vs. GWU, but just 25 percent from the perimeter. They outrebounded the GWU Colonials 38-28, including eight offensive boards. LA Tech maintained ball control, winning the battle 15-11 and picking up five steals – notching 22 points off GWU turnovers.
On the season, senior guard Walker is leading the way on the scoreboard with 14.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 2.3 apg. A local junior forward, Roberson is scoring 11.9 ppg and topping the team with 7.7 rpg. Sophomore guard Amaya Brannon is the third-highest scorer at 7.9 ppg, adding 5.4 rpg and 1.6 apg.
As a team, Louisiana Tech is averaging 67.0 ppg while holding the opposition to 43.4 ppg, shooting 45.7 percent on the year. On the glass, LA Tech is outboarding foes 38.0 to 34.1. Comparatively, the Braves average 62.0 ppg and 37.4 rpg on the year.
Thanks to quality ball movement to produce 16.1 apg, the Techsters rank No. 1 in C-USA and 57th nationally in Assists, as well as C-USA No. 1 (36th NCAA) in Assist/Turnover Ratio (350 ranked). They also limit opponents to the lowest FG% average in the conference at 34.5 percent, leading to a C-USA-topping scoring defense.
CATCH THE BRAVES LIVE AT THE WHITNEY IN 2022-23
Season Tickets for the 2022-23 Alcorn men's and women's basketball teams at the Davey L. Whitney Health and Physical Education Complex are now available for purchase at
https://alcornsports.myimpacttickets.com/basketball. Season tickets for the home SWAC competitions are $76.25, while single-game admission is $12.65 in advance.
UP NEXT
After returning from Ruston, the Braves will be back inside the Whitney on Dec. 6 with the redux of the Central Arkansas matchup on the schedule at 2:00 p.m., ahead of Dec. 13 at home, with Tougaloo College coming over from Jackson.
For all Alcorn State Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (
@BravesSports), Instagram (
@AlcornSports) and YouTube (
Alcorn State Sports).
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