Southern 66, Mississippi Valley State 58
BATON ROUGE, La. – Briana Green dealt out 20 points in leading Southern to a 66-58 fourth-quarter comeback win over Mississippi Valley State Monday night during Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) action in the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
With it, the Jaguars (12-10, 11-2 SWAC) remain atop league standings heading toward the stretch run of the regular season. Sarai Blissett added eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
LaKendra Bassett led MVSU (2-23, 2-11 SWAC) with 18 points and eight rebounds. Kristy Parker added 16 points, and Makayla Bonner posted 10 points and eight boards.
Mississippi Valley appeared primed for an upset bid after shaking off a rough start — Southern opened the game on a 12-4 run — and ultimately taking things over in the third quarter. Up 31-30 to start the period, the Devilettes pushed forward with a 9-4 run. Green buried a jumper to bring the Jaguars within four, but back-to-back scores from Parker and a perfect trip to the line by Kenya Arnold put the Devilettes ahead by 10.
Mississippi Valley led by as many as 12 but Blissett scored four points in the waning seconds to spark a 12-0 run that carried into the fourth quarter and gave Southern a 52-51 lead with 8:23 left.
Parker responded on MVSU’s next possession, but Alyric Scott nailed a three-ball to regain the lead for the Jaguars, and Southern never relinquished the lead from there, fending off the Devilettes’ comeback attempt.
Alcorn State 76, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 58
LORMAN, Miss. – Three Lady Braves scored in double-figures as Alcorn State (10-14, 6-7 SWAC) took down Arkansas-Pine Bluff (5-18, 3-10 SWAC) 78-56 Monday night at the Davey Whitney Complex, snapping a four-game skid.
UAPB jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead early but Alcorn closed the quarter on a 10-5 run to take a 13-12 lead into the second quarter. The Lady Braves surged ahead by as many as 15 in the second quarter, leading 36-25 at the break. The Lady Lions made their move in the third, opening it on a 15-4 run to get within a basket as Malaik Muhammad scored eight of her UAPB-leading 17 points during the spurt.
However, Alcorn State regrouped and put together a 15-5 run that stretched from the 3:26 mark of the third to 6:31 left in the fourth, restoring a double-digit advantage. The Lady Braves were never threatened from that point on.
Alexus Freeman paced Alcorn with 22 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Tia Sanders added 11 points and six assists, and Ugochinyere Nwarie scored 10 points. Miracle Rushing pulled down 16 rebounds for the second-straight game, chipping in nine points as well.
Texas Southern 66, Grambling State 56
HOUSTON – The Lady Tigers of Texas Southern University overwhelmed Grambling during the middle quarters Monday and claimed a 66-56 win.
At TSU’s H&PE Arena, Joyce Kennerson scored a game-high 25 points and pulled in five rebounds to lead the Lady Tigers (14-9, 9-3 SWAC) to their eighth win in their last nine Southwestern Athletic Conference contests.
The win also moved TSU one-half game ahead of Grambling (12-12, 9-4 SWAC) for second place in the conference standings.
Taylor Robinson notched her first double-double in a TSU uniform, scoring 10 points and pulling in 11 rebounds, only the third double-double of the season for the Lady Tigers and the first for a player other than Breasia McElrath.
Kaitlyn Palmer chipped in 14 points and six rebounds for Texas Southern, and was 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Meanwhile, Kennerson was 4-of-7 from the 3-point circle; the duo ranks Nos. 2 and 3 in the SWAC in 3-point shooting.
The hometown Lady Tigers kept Grambling’s Shakyla Hill from taking over the game. Hill, plagued with early foul trouble, had a frustrating 6-of-20 game shooting. Still, she scored a team-high 17 points and pulled seven rebounds.
TSU outscored its guests 41-21 during the second and third quarters as the host Lady Tigers led by as many 20 during that span. Helping TSU’s cause was the team’s 53-29 advantage in rebounding. The host Lady Tigers pulled 18 offensive rebounds off Grambling’s backboard, compared to just 13 defensive rebounds for the visitors. Grambling outscored TSU 21-11 in the final quarter, but Texas Southern’s lead held strong.
Catherine Okwilagwe scored eight points and pulled in nine rebounds for Texas Southern. Kailyn Gideon blocked a game-high seven shots for Grambling while also pulling in nine rebounds.
Prairie View A&M 85, Jackson State 73
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Prairie View A&M women’s basketball team topped Jackson State 85-73 on Monday evening at the William J. Nicks Baby Dome.
Shala Dobbins led all scorers with 29 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor. Dominique Newman finished with 13 points in 16 minutes of play, Jhyrah Cobb and La’Neique Nealey each registered double doubles with Cobb posting 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Nealey tallied 11 points and snatched down 12 rebounds in 39 minutes of game action.
The Lady Panthers (9-14, 7-5 SWAC) had an explosive start to the contest, scoring the game’s first 11 points en route to a 17-3 advantage with 4:22 remaining in the opening frame of play. PVAMU took a 26-12 lead to the next quarter.
Prairie View led by as 19 with 7:52 remaining in the half. However, Mariah Smelser keyed an 8-0 JSU run to close the half to cut the lead to single digits (38-29).
After Jackson State cut the deficit to 42-36 after a Christina Ellis lay-up, PVAMU responded going on a 9-1 run to widen the lead back to double digits. The Lady Panthers managed to build a 16-point lead and looked set to run away with matters, but Jackson State (12-10, 7-6 SWAC) stayed within striking distance as Derica Wiggins buried a three and took advantage of charity stripe work to make a 12-3 run to close the quarter down seven.
Prairie View ultimately kept JSU at bay down the stretch, leading by no less than six. Marneisha Hamer led JSU with 16 points and six rebounds. Ellis added 14 points.
Courtesy: SWAC
