PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Texas Southern Lady Tigers maintained a one-game lead on first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with a 50-43 win Saturday at Prairie View A&M.
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Kianna Vines scored 19 points and pulled in 12 rebounds to lead Texas Southern (13-7, 9-1 SWAC) to victory in the semiannual rivalry game between the conference's two Texas teams.
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Tori Carter came off the Prairie View A&M bench to score a team-high 15 points for the Lady Panthers (9-10, 5-5 SWAC). Carter was shot 6-of-10 from the field and added a game-high three steals.
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Lamaria Cole added 14 points for the Lady Panthers, while
Alexus Parker chipped in five points and seven rebounds.
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The Lady Panthers will try to snap a two-game losing streak when they return to action next Saturday against Grambling State at William J. Nicks Arena. The women will tip off the hoops doubleheader at 3 p.m.
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Saturday's game was also the first game in which Prairie View A&M partnered with Raising Cane's. Since the Lady Panthers and PVAMU men's basketball team both reached 40 points in their respective games, fans who visit the Raising Cane's in Cypress (26302 Northwest Freeway, near the Spring Cypress intersection) can participate in a "Buy One, Get One Free" combo deal Sunday.
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(Fans must present a PVAMU student or faculty ID, or a game ticket from the TSU game, within 24 hours of the completion of the men's game to receive the free combo meal with purchase of one combo.)
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TWEET of the GAME: Â
HOW IT HAPPENED:Texas Southern used a 9-2 run between the 6:18 and 1:40 marks of the second quarter to take its largest lead of the first half. Vines' layup from Joyce Kennerson's pass with 2:42 left before halftime stretched the TSU lead to 26-19, and gave the Lady Tigers a lead it would not relinquish.
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Cole scored the final three points of the first half to cut TSU's midgame lead to 26-22, but the Lady Panthers couldn't carry the momentum into the second half. PVAMU players missed their first four shots of the third quarter while layups by Kennerson and Toni Cheadle gave the Lady Tigers a 30-22 lead with 7:51 to play in the period.
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Ereyanna Magee opened the scoring for the Panthers when she converted the first of two free throws at the 7:28 mark in the third quarter. Following a TSU miss, Magee knocked down a jumper off a Carter pass to cut the visitors' lead to 30-25, but PVAMU would get no closer the rest of the game.
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The Lady Tigers claimed their largest lead of the game when Cheadle sank one out of two free throws with 2:56 left in the third quarter to stretch the TSU lead to 37-27.
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GAME NOTES: - Texas Southern won its third consecutive game over Prairie View A&M.
- The announced attendance for Saturday's women's game was 2,871, PVAMU's largest home crowd of the season and third largest attendance for any Lady Panthers game this season.
- At one hour and 39 minutes, Saturday's game was also the quickest contest the Lady Panthers have played during the 2015-16 season, the first season in which college women's games are split into 10-minute quarters.
- Prairie View A&M lost for the first time this season when holding its opponent to fewer than 60 points; the Lady Panthers had won their previous six such contests.
- The Lady Tigers shot 34.9 percent (22 of 63) from the floor, the lowest percentage by PVAMU's opposition in a Lady Panthers loss this season.
- Prairie View A&M shot 32.1 percent (18 of 56) from the field, its lowest percentage at home this season.
- The Lady Panthers have a .465 winning percentage (33-38) against Texas Southern, which is the team's highest winning percentage against any team that was in the SWAC at the start of the NCAA's women's basketball era in 1981-82.
- Tori Carter's 15 points marked a season high against NCAA Division I competition. She scored 20 points in her PVAMU debut against NCAA Division III Howard Payne. Her career best against a Division I opponent is 16, scored against UNC–Wilmington while playing for Charlotte (Jan. 3, 2014).
- Carter's 15 points off the bench marked the first time since the Howard Payne game the Lady Panthers' leading scorer was not in the starting lineup.
- Taylor Overshown grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, topping her career best of eight set last Saturday at Alabama A&M.
- Overshown and Ereyanna Magee blocked two shots apiece, marking career highs for each player. Magee also scored three points for PVAMU.
- TSU had two double-doubles in the game – Toni Cheadle scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Lady Tigers.
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