Feb. 13, 2006

Final Stats

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alabama State may not have completely taken Savannah State for granted, but finding itself in an 8-0 hole less than four minutes into the game and down at halftime may have exposed the Lady Hornets' lack of concentration.

"We have a young group and sometimes it's hard for them to stay focused," head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson said. "If we're going to have a chance to win a championship, we have to win our last six games. Somehow, we're going to have to have this group pull it together night in, night out."

ASU was able to regroup in the second half, riding Frantina Coleman's sparkling effort to a 64-54 non-conference victory at the Joe L. Reed Acadome Monday night.

"We struggled all night long and (the team) might have overlooked them," Freeman-Jackson said of a Lady Tigers team that is now 3-22. "I don't know what the problem was."

Alabama State (11-10) went over the .500 mark for the first time this season with the win but was unable to get much from its two leading scorers, sophomores Latille Ross and Shantae Robinson. The duo was 0-2 from the field, scored four points and had four turnovers in 28 combined minutes.

But Coleman stepped up big, scoring 16 points - all in the second half - and grabbing seven rebounds while adding four assists and four steals.

"Our point guard (Robinson) didn't come ready to play tonight. But Frantina played well defensively and did an excellent job offensively," Freeman-Jackson said.

ASU, which also struggled in a four-point win over Savannah State in December, trailed 29-27 at halftime and by one point with 12 minutes left.

"They have an athletic team that is hard to match up with," Freeman-Jackson said. "But I told them at halftime that it shouldn't matter if this is a conference or non-conference game. We should be winning this game."

An 11-1 run over the next four minutes gave the Lady Hornets control of the game. During that stretch, the Lady Tigers missed their only two field goal attempts and turned the ball over five times. Savannah State would only get as close as four points the rest of the way.

L'Teisha Holloway scored 14 points, Rhonda Brown added 10 points and Elma Stevenson grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lady Hornets, who host Alcorn State Saturday at 1 p.m. Antoinette Williams and Lashara Smith each scored 14 for Savannah State.