ALABAMA A&M def. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, 63-58
ITTA BENA, Miss. — Mississippi Valley State (2-11, 0-2 SWAC) had a strong first half performance Saturday against Alabama A&M (3-11, 2-1 SWAC) but the Lady Bulldogs overpowered the Devilettes in the second half to secure a 63-58 win at the Leflore County Civic Center. AAMU was sparked by Janie Myles’ third double-double of the season. Myles scored 24 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. Taylor Sippial scored 14 points, including 9 second-half points. In its SWAC home opener, Ashley Beals led MVSU with a career-high 23 points including 16 in the first half while Christina Reed added 16 points and a team-high four assists before fouling out late in the game. A’Shanti Weathers chipped in 12 points. A connection between Reed and Beals in the first half helped provide Valley with a comfortable 34-26 lead at halftime. The Lady Bulldogs, however, snatched the momentum in the second half thanks to Janie Myles, who had 16 of her 24 points in the final 20 minutes. Myles scored the first six points on the second half before Reed ended the Lady Bulldogs’ run with a jumper to extend Valley’s lead to 36-32. The Devilettes held on to the lead until the 7:49 mark when Taylor Sippial made one of her two three-pointers on the day. MVSU led again by as much as five points with under four minutes left. But from that point, the Lady Bulldogs concluded the game on a 14-4 run. The Lady Bulldogs will visit Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday. Tipoff is 5:30 p.m. MVSU will be back at home Monday at 5:30 p.m. hosting Alabama State at the Leflore County Civic Center.
ALCORN STATE def. JACKSON STATE, 76-69
JACKSON, Miss. – Alcorn State University defeated Jackson State women’s basketball team 69-72 on Saturday evening in the Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center. Alcorn (3-9, 2-1) shot 42.4% from the field, 37.5% in three-point range, and 69.7% at the free-throw line. Norianna Haynes led the Lady Braves with 23 points with Jazmin Strane bringing down 12 rebounds for a game high. JSU (5-9, 2-1) shot 49.0% from the field, 11.1% in three-point range, and 69.2% at the free-throw line. Senior guard Ayanna Lynn led the Tigers with 12 points off the bench and Ke’ra St. John added 10 points to the scoring effort and tied with Kaylan Hughes for a team game high of 6 rebounds. In the first half, Jackson State and Alcorn went back and forth for the lead and tied for 13 turnovers. The half ended with JSU down 32-33. In the second half, the Lady Tiger brought down more rebounds than Alcorn, 21-14, but was unable to convert the effort into scoring advantage. The Lady Tigers hope to bounce back from today’s loss on Monday when they take on Southern at 5:30. Alcorn State travels to Grambling, La to take on Grambling State Monday at 5:30 p.m.
PRAIRIE VIEW def. TEXAS SOUTHERN, 63-61
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Lady Panthers claimed their first conference victory, 63-61, against in-state rivalry Texas Southern Saturday night. PVAMU was led by Shamiya Brooks, who recorded a game-high 15 points and recorded a double-double by snatching 12 rebounds. Followed was Jeanette Jackson with 12 points. She also added seven assists. Diamonisha Sophus led the Lady Tigers with 15 points and seven boards. Alexus Johnson pitched in 13 points and eight rebounds. Texas Southern led the entire first half as many as nine points. The Lady Panthers took the first lead of the night by three points with 12:17 remaining. The Lady Tigers would not let up that easy, scoring the next basket less than 15 seconds later. PVAMU took their biggest lead, 55-47 with 6:45 left in the second half. Texas Southern took the lead back by one with less than three minutes left but it wasn’t enough as Prairie View went on to capture the win by two points off Jackson free throws. PVAMU will host Jackson State next Saturday at 3 p.m. Texas Southern will host Grambling State January 17th at 5:30 p.m.
ALABAMA STATE def. ARKANSAS PINE-BLUFF, 64-54
PINE BLUFF, Ark. – Led by the efforts of junior Jasmine Peeples with 15 points, the Alabama State women’s basketball team defeated the Lady Lions of Pine Bluff 64-53 at the H.O. Clemmons Arena Saturday night. Peeples had four rebounds and was 7-of-10 from the field shooting 70 percent to help the Lady Hornets to its first road win. Two other Alabama State players were in double figures. Britney Wright had 14, while hot shot three-point shooter Kayla Tucker had 11 points shooting 3-of-5 from around the arc. Daniele Ewert led ASU on the boards with 11 and added eight points in the win. Lady Hornets (6-7, 2-1 SWAC) opened up a 20-6 lead with 11:36 on the clock in the first half. The Lady Lions went on a run of their own to cut the Lady Hornets lead to 10 making the score 37-25 at halftime. The Lady Lions stretched within 48-43 after two free throws from Shami Goodman, the closet Arkansas Pine Bluff would have gotten. At this point, the momentum had changed and ASU had to take a time out. The Lady Hornets came back and went on a surge of their own advancing by as many as 16 points with 1:58 left in the half. Two players off the UAPB team made back-to-back threes, but it wasn’t enough to cut into ASU’s lead. Arkansas Pine-Bluff was led by Goodman, who scored a team-best 12 points. The Lady Hornets will continue their two game road trip as they travel to Greenwood, Miss. to face the Devilettes of Mississippi Valley, Monday at 5:30 at the Greenwood Civic Center. UAPB will host Alabama A&M on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
GRAMBLING def. SOUTHERN, 57-56
GRAMBLING, La. – A lay-up by Bre’Nae Andrews with 32 seconds left would secure Grambling State’s 57-56 win over Southern University Saturday night. The Lady Jaguars got things started by scoring the first five points. There was back and forth action the entire first half. Southern went into halftime up by three points, 23-20. The score was close until 10:25 left in the second half. SUBR were up by eight points, their biggest lead of the game. The Lady Tigers would not let up just yet. With a little over two minutes remaining, Grambling State took a two point lead, 54-52. With 43 seconds left, Southern was up by one off of a made free throw from Cortnei Purnell but Andrews made the final basket of the game, securing the Lady Tigers win by one point. Leading GSU was Monisha Neal with a game-high 28 points and seven rebounds, playing a full 40 minutes. Andrews chipped in 12 points. Kendra Coleman led the Lady Jaguars with 14 points. Grambling will host Arkansas Pine-Bluff Monday at 5:30 and Southern University will see Jackson State at 5:30 p.m.
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