PRAIRIE VIEW — The Prairie View A&M women’s basketball team fell 68-63 to Alcorn State despite a late rally from the Lady Panthers in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) season opener on Saturday afternoon in the Baby Dome.
In a back-and-forth contest early in the game, the Panthers (3-10, 0-1 SWAC) led in the beginning, 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 Lady Panthers on a 7-2 run to push PVAMU ahead 18-15.
In the final two minutes of the 1st period, both sides continued to play tug-of-war with the score, with the Lady Panthers heading into the second quarter leading 27-24.
Further, two back-to-back jumpers from freshman Kennedy Paul provided fuel for the Panthers offense in the second period, but Alcorn’s LaRae Rascoe found her groove from beyond the arc, aiding an 11-0 run for Alcorn State 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
Moreover, in the opening of the third quarter, Newman led the Panthers on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit 47-43.
Even though the Lady Braves’ offense grew a cold shoulder, only having just six points in the quarter, the Panthers still trailed 51-47 heading into the final stanza.
Following a jumper from Newman, and a free throw from K. Williams, PVAMU cut the Braves lead down to 52-50.
The teams were tied at 54-54, until a 6-0 Alcorn State run pushed them ahead 60-54 with 2:15 left.
With a pair of free throws from K.Williams, and a buried a three-ball from Newman, the Lady Panthers pulled within a bucket of tying the game, but Lady Braves wouldn’t allow them to get any closer.
Despite the late rally and what the stat sheet reported , PVAMU Assistant Coach Sean LeBeauf believes the Lady Panthers were out-performed.
“We can look at these stats all we want, but at the end of the day, that team was tougher than us. 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.”
While Bernesha Peters led the women’s basketball team with 15 points, five assists, four steals and one rebound; Ke’Asia Williams followed with 13 points, nine rebounds and three steals and Dominique Newman also contributed with 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
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 University on Jan. 6. Tip- off is set for 5 pm
