ITTA BENA, Miss. – The Alcorn State women's basketball team completed the season sweep of Mississippi Valley State University, defeating the Devillettes 69-58 inside the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex Thursday afternoon. The Lady Braves improve to 12-16 overall and 8-9 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. MVSU falls to 2-25 on the season and 0-17 in the SWAC.
Alcorn shot 42.9 percent (30-for-70) from the field and 26.3 percent (5-for-19) in three-point range. The Lady Braves did not make it to that line that often but landed all their shots, going 4-for-4.
Destiny Brown went 8-for-13 from the floor and added two points at the line to lead Alcorn with a game-high 18 points. The sophomore center from Los Angles, Calif., added 8 rebounds and two blocks to the effort. Also scoring in the double-digits, Tyginae Wright had 12 points, and Zy'Nia White had 11. Nakia Cheatham led the Lady Braves in rebounding, bringing down 9 boards with 8 points.
Mississippi Valley shot 39.6 percent from the floor and 15.4 percent beyond the arc. The Devilettes were able to draw more fouls than the Lady Braves to make 23 trips to the free-throw line. They made 14 of those shots to go 60.9 percent. Zaria Harleaux and Anjanae Muek led the team with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Alcorn came off the tip with a strong start, quickly garnering a 21-7 run in the opening minutes of the contest. Brown led the effort with 10 points, hitting five of her six attempts from the field. With just over one minute left in the first period, Lexus Eagle for MVSU capitalized on an Alcorn turnover for a fast break layup to cut the Lady Braves' lead to 21-10. In the closing minute of the quarter, the two teams traded points, but Alcorn won out 23-13.
Alcorn brought the first-period momentum into the second quarter, with Cayla Obillo hitting a three-point shot seconds after the toss-in. Wright stepped up as the Lady Braves continued to stay ahead of Mississippi Valley. She made three of four shots to push Alcorn to a 31-19 advantage with 5:30 on the clock before halftime. In the run, the Devillettes went scoreless for three minutes, but a three-pointer by Elisa Saffold would end the drought and put 31-22 on the scoreboard with 3:42 remaining. The Lady Braves closed the quarter on a 12-5 with Wright, White, and Nakia Cheatham contributing to the effort. Alcorn entered the break with a lead of 42-27.
The third quarter started slowly for both teams, as the first points were not scored until a full minute ticked off the clock. Milia Gibson landed two for Valley to put the score at 42-29 with 9:00 minutes left. Alcorn took another minute to answer, with Cheatham sinking a two-point jumper. At the six-minute mark, Kerrigan Johnson grabbed three points for MVSU cutting the Lady Braves' lead to 46-32. The points continued to trickle in as time ticked off the clock, and Alcorn closed the quarter with an 18-point advantage, 56-38.
The scoring came more frequently in the closing period of the contest. The Devillettes were much more aggressive, putting up 20 points in the quarter while holding the Lady Braves to 13. It was the first time in the game that MVSU outscored Alcorn in a period. It was insufficient, and Alcorn claimed a 69-58 victory over Mississippi Valley.
The Lady Braves return to the court on Saturday, March 4, in their final game of the 2022-23 regular season. Alcorn will travel to Pine Bluff, Ark., to take on conference-rival Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
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