Houston – The Texas Southern Lady Tigers claimed their second consecutive victory for the home crowd. TSU beat Arkansas Pine-Bluff in another nail-biting showdown on the hardwood.
The first half was as tight as it could be, the biggest lead was five points which TSU held at the 4:07 mark (20-15). Pine-Bluff made a run and took a four point advantage with 58 seconds left in the half. The first half ended with the Lady Tigers trailing 24-26.
Texas Southern did not break their slump at the start of the second half. TSU fell behind 36-50 half way through the period. Jamelah Lewis (#23) drained a three point shot to bring the Lady Tigers within ten, and their come-back was on.
TSU went on a 21-11 point run to tie the game at 61 with 1:33 left to play. Pine-Bluff hit a three point shot to give them a two point lead with 33 seconds on the clock (65-63). A repeat of Saturday’s heroics happened again in the H&PE Arena. This time the shocker came from Lewis who hit a three pointer at the 19 second mark. She then grabbed the rebound on the other end of the court to help seal the victory. The Lady Tigers won again in grand fashion…67-65.
“You can not measure the size of the heart of this team,” says Texas Southern head coach Claude Cummings. “We could have easily given up when we were down by 14, but we kept fighting. And it just says a lot about the character of this team.” Lewis led the Lady Tigers with 19 points and seven rebounds. She also had three assists and two steals. Brandi Justice (#15) had 14 points, three rounds and three steals.
The Lady Tigers (6-11 / 4-3) will take their two game winning streak on the road to face Alabama State (February 2nd) and Alabama A&M (February 4th) next week.
