The historic season for HBCU Alabama A&M ended in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament on Thursday.
BYU turned a close game into a second-half rout, riding a dominant defensive effort and balanced scoring to roll past the Bulldogs 72-47 in the first round of the WBIT on Thursday in Provo.
Alabama A&M hung around early before BYU’s size and depth began to take over after halftime, as the Cougars methodically stretched a single-digit edge into a runaway win.
BYU’s interior defense choked off driving lanes, and the Cougars repeatedly turned stops into transition chances to break the game open in the third quarter.
Alabama A&M went down fighting
Alabama A&M, the SWAC regular-season champion, entered with one of the league’s stingiest defenses but struggled to find rhythm against BYU’s length and ball pressure.
SWAC Player of the Year Kalia Walker led the way with 20 points and Moses Davenport chipped in with 10 in the final game of the season.
The Bulldogs battled on the boards and got flashes of offense from their leading scorers, yet prolonged scoring droughts in the second half allowed the Cougars to pull away for good.
Alabama A&M can look back fondly on and build off a season that included a Division 1 program record 17-game winning streak, 22 wins and a conference regular season title.
