COLLEGE PARK, Ga. – For the third time this season, Arkansas-Pine Bluff held off a furious late Alcorn rally Wednesday evening as the Golden Lions laid claim to a 64-60 win in the women's basketball quarterfinals of the
Pepsi Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament presented by Buick at The Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Maryland.
Alcorn (17-13) ends the season having finished second in the final SWAC standings with 14 conference wins – the most in 20 years for the Braves. As for UAPB (15-15), the Golden Lions advance to the tournament semifinals on Friday, March 13, taking on the winner of No. 3 Alabama State and No. 6 Grambling State at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Braves Standouts
•
Kiarra Henderson led the Braves with 18 points – her 17th double-figure scoring outburst of the season. She finishes the year having touched double digits in her last four games consecutively.
• Henderson also recorded nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.
•
Nakia Cheatham ended her final Braves game with her ninth double-double of the campaign – 18 points, 11 rebounds.
• Cheatham finished the day 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.
•
Lauren Nelson supplied Alcorn with a season-high tying 16 points on 8 for 12 shooting from the field.
• Despite being outrebounded, the Braves managed to outscore the Golden Lions 20-5 in second chance points.
How It Happened
• The Alcorn bench was quiet all game, finishing just 1-for-19 from the field combined – that one basket coming from
Ja'Sharreah Hunt.
• Alcorn jumped out to a 11-4 lead midway through the first quarter behind six points from
Lauren Nelson and five from
Dalayja Hurt-Floyd. Nelson converted a pair of paint buckets while Hurt-Floyd connected on a three-pointer and a pull-up jumper in the early going.
• Jailah Pelly paced Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 10 first-half points, going 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Khaniah Gardner added nine points, including an and-one sequence in the second quarter that sparked a pivotal run.
• The Braves were unable to hold their advantage as turnovers proved costly. Alcorn committed 10 first-half turnovers, leading to nine points for UAPB.
• Alcorn shot just 28.6 percent from the field (8-of-28) across the opening 20 minutes and went 1-of-11 from three-point range.
• The Golden Lions seized their biggest lead of the half at seven, 25-18, in the final seconds of the second quarter after Pelly knocked down a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining.
• The Golden Lions led by as many as 18 points at 53-35 in the second half but had to hold on as the Lady Braves outscored them 25-11 in the final period.
• UAPB dominated the third quarter, outscoring Alcorn 28-17 to build what appeared to be a comfortable cushion heading into the fourth.
• Jailah Pelly ignited the offense early, converting two fast-break layups off turnovers to push the lead to 11 points just over a minute into the period. Indiya Bowen added a step-back three-pointer on another fast break to extend the advantage to 15, capping a dominant third quarter in which the Golden Lions shot 78.6 percent from the field.
•
Kiarra Henderson kept Alcorn afloat in the third with seven points, including a pair of second-chance tip-in layups, while
Nakia Cheatham contributed nine points on 7-of-8 free throw shooting for the period.
• In the fourth quarter, the Purple and Gold opened with a Cheatham three-pointer and began chipping away at the deficit behind Henderson
• The No. 2 seed Braves cut the lead to four points twice in the final minute, the last coming on a Cheatham three-pointer off a steal with six seconds remaining that made it 60-63.
• Jasmine Davis sealed the win at the free throw line for Arkansas-Pine Bluff, going 1-of-2 with four seconds left to push the final margin to four.
• The Purple and Gold missed a total of 10 layups in the contest, while missing 12 against UAPB in the regular season finale at home just under a week ago.
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