PRAIRIE VIEW — The Prairie View A&M women's basketball team fell 68-63 in its Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) season opener against Alcorn State on Saturday afternoon in the Baby Dome.

Senior Bernesha Peters led the team with 15 points, five assists, four steals and one rebound. Senior Ke'Asia Williams followed with 13 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Senior Dominique Newman also contributed with 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals. 
 
"We can look at these stats all we want, but at the end of the day, that team was tougher than us," PVAMU Assistant Coach Sean LeBeauf said. "They threw the first punch and we didn't recover. We didn't do a good job of showing poise and patience. We looked rattled the entire time. We cut the lead down to three or four points, and we had opportunities in the third quarter, we just couldn't get over the hump because we didn't make the tough plays." 
 
A back-and-forth contest early, the Panthers (3-10, 0-1 SWAC) led during the initial goings until a 5-0 Alcorn run left Prairie View A&M down 11-9. The deficit was short-lived as a jumper from K. Williams knotted the score at 11-11, to which the Lady Braves responded with a basket to briefly jump back ahead. In what ultimately became a high-scoring opening frame, freshman Diana Rosenthal led the Panthers on a 7-2 run to push PVAMU ahead 18-15. In the final two minutes of the period, the sides continued to trade points, with Prairie View A&M going into the second quarter up 27-24.
 
Two back-to-back jumpers from freshman Kennedy Paul jump started the Panthers offense in the second period, but Alcorn's LaRae Rascoe found her stroke from beyond the arc, aiding an 11-0 Alcorn run that pushed the score to 40-31 with just under three minutes remaining in the half. A quick basket from graduate transfer Tatyana Perez cut the deficit to 40-33, followed by another jumper from K. Williams, but Alcorn closed the half up 45-35.
 
In the opening of the third, Newman led the Panthers on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit 47-43. Despite cooling off the Lady Braves' offense to the tune of just six points in the quarter, the Panthers trailed 51-47 heading to the final stanza. 
 
Following a jumper from Newman, and a free throw from K. Williams, Prairie View A&M cut the Alcorn lead down to 52-50. The teams were tied at 54-54, until a 6-0 Lady Braves run pushed them ahead 60-54 with 2:15 left. K. Williams sank a pair of free throws, and Newman buried a three-ball to pull the Panthers within a bucket of tying the game but they would get no closer.

Rascoe led the Lady Braves (5-8, 1-0 SWAC) with 22 points and four steals.
 
Next Up:
The Panthers return to the Baby Dome to face Southern on Jan. 6. Tip- off is set for 5 p.m.