BOX SCORE
The Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers dropped their second-consecutive conference game after losing a closely-contested 59-54 heartbreaker to Alcorn State Thursday night in the Baby Dome.
Prairie View trailed for the entire second half and fell behind by as much as 10 points after a jumper by Alcorn State's Sharnika Breedlove put the Lady Braves up 53-43 with 3:38 left in the game. However, the Lady Panthers stormed back thanks to an 8-0, three-minute run in which junior guard Latia Williams scored four points.
Williams' jumper with 36 seconds left in the game cut the Lady Panthers' deficit to 53-51. But that would be as close as Prairie View would get to a victory as untimely turnovers and converted free throws by Alcorn State's Kiara Ruffin led to the loss.
Williams recorded her second-consecutive double-double and fourth of the season. She scored a team-high 18 points and matched her season-high in rebounds with 17 boards in the losing effort.
The Lady Panthers suffered through a horrendous first half of shooting, only making 22.9 percent of their shots from the field and going 1-for-8 from three-point territory. Despite that short-fall, they only trailed Alcorn State 23-18 at the half thanks to some shut-down defense of their own.
Prairie View held Alcorn State (4-10, 2-0 SWAC) to 23 first half points due to its ability to force turnovers. The Lady Braves had 12 first-half turnovers, and the Lady Panthers scored nine points off of those opportunities.
The Lady Panthers might have struggled offensively as a team in the first half, but Williams scored eight first-half points and was a beast on the boards, grabbing six offensive rebounds and 10 total rebounds en route to her fourth double-double of the season.
Ruffin scored a game-high 19 points and added eight assists for the Lady Braves. Kiara Etienne was the Lady Panthers' second-leading scorer, putting up 14 points.
Prairie View A&M (3-10, 0-2 SWAC) travels to Houston to play Texas Southern at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the H&PE Arena on the TSU campus. Texas Southern is winless this season sitting at 0-12 (0-2 SWAC).
