ITTA BENA, Miss. - Prairie View A&M was unable to recover from an early first-half deficit and a devastating second half run by Mississippi Valley State as they dropped a critical conference game in a 63-56 loss on the road in Itta Bena, Miss.
Prairie View A&M fell to 7-6 in conference play and the Devilettes improved to 10-4. Lady Panthers junior forward Latia Williams finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, but Prairie View A&M didn't get its usual performance from junior guard Kiara Etienne. She went 6-for-21 for 13 points. The Lady Panthers only had three assists on 20 total field goals.
“When you only have three assists on 20 baskets that shows that you're not playing team basketball,” Prairie View A&M head coach Toyelle Wilson said. “Mississippi Valley did a good job of mixing things up on defense. Our girls didn't do a good job of reading the defense.”
Defensively, the Lady Panthers had trouble containing Devilettes forward Brittney Lakes as she had 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting. Mississippi Valley was able to distribute the ball well with 16 assists on their 22 baskets.
“They play really different when they are at home,” Wilson said. “That's why they are still undefeated in this building. They play on another level. They have their rims and their fans.”
The Lady Panthers could not contain the hot shooting of Mississippi Valley in the first half and did their best to hold on. Lakes had 12 first-half points, and Mississippi Valley hit four three pointers in the first half en route to a 33-27 lead.
Prairie View A&M turned to the guard combo of Williams and Etienne to keep the Lady Panthers within striking distance. Williams had 12 first-half points including an unusually high performance from downtown, in which she went 2-for-3 from three-point land. Williams also added four rebounds.
Etienne had eight points in the first 20 minutes and added three rebounds.
Prairie View will next hit the road to Pine Bluff, Ark. to take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a 5:30 p.m. game on Monday night.
