Southern 65, Grambling State 40
BATON ROUGE, La. – Hannah Kador poured in 19 points – including five three pointers – as Southern beat Grambling State 65-40.
GSU started slowly and the Jaguars took full advantage as they raced out to a 34-11 lead with 4:34 left in the first half. Grambling State tried to climb back into the game as they closed the first half with an 8-2 spurt that cut the lead to 36-17 at halftime.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the second half mirrored the first as SU built a 29 point advantage on a 10-0 run with just over 9 minutes remaining in the game and coasted to the their first conference win of the season.
Southern was on fire from outside as they made 9-19 three point attempts in the game. Kador led three Jaguars (7-6, 1-2) in double figures as Essence Hopkins and Ashley Augerson each scored 10 points.
Kiara Marshall and Jasher Blocker led Grambling State(4-8, 1-2) with 11 points each.
Alabama State 48, Mississippi Valley State 46
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama State survived Mississippi Valley State’s furious second-half rally in a 48-46 home win Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Hornets led from the opening minutes of the game, and held an 11-point lead with just under 9 minutes left in the game. Valley ripped off seven straight points to pull within 38-34.
On two occasions, the Delta Devils would cut the lead to two, but Tanika Jackson made six straight free throws in the final minutes and Valley missed a couple of jumpers as the clock expired.
Jackson had 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for ASU (5-7, 2-1). Jasmine Quinn added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Hornets.
Ashley Brown led Valley (4-9, 1-1) with 10 points.
Prairie View 76, Texas Southern 53
HOUSTON, Texas – Both Texas Southern and Prairie View entered Saturday’s match-up with identical 2–0 SWAC records. A perfect start wasn’t a surprise for Panthers, the two-time defending regular season conference champions. But for TSU – who won four of their last five before the SWAC tourney in 2009 – it was a chance to continue to show they belonged among the SWAC elite.
However, the Panthers showed how absolutely dominant they can be as they took a 76-53 win.
The teams battled to a 12-12 tie in the first eight minutes, before PV scored nine straight – capped by Gatti Werema’s three-point play. Inisha Daughty’s jumper cut the lead to seven, before PV used one of their patented late half runs to take a 38-26 lead to the lockerroom.
In the second half, Prairie View’s tremendous depth wore down TSU as the lead grew to as much as 27.
Latara Darrett led four Panthers in double figures with 22 points. Werema had one of her strongest outings of the season with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Dominique Smith scored 11 points off the bench, while Candice Thomas added 10 for Prairie View (6-6, 3-0)
Jasmine Cannon paced Texas Southern (4-9, 2-1) with 11 points, while Krissica Harper chipped in 10.
UAPB 75, Alabama A&M 59
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Arkansas-Pine Bluff used a combination of great defense and a season-high scoring performance to surprise Alabama A&M 75-69.
The Golden Lions held the Bulldogs to only seven first half baskets as they built a 19 point halftime lead.
Alabama A&M quickly cut that lead to 12 as Katrich Williams went on a tear, scoring 10 points in three minutes. But that would be as close as they Bulldogs would get as UAPB closed the door with a 14-4 run to pick up their first SWAC win of the year.
Laquisha Slaton led the Golden Lions (2-10, 1-1) with 19 points. Tashayla Jackson and Shay Holmes added 12 and 11, respectively.
Williams finished with 26 points for Alabama A&M (6-6, 2-1).
