Feb. 27, 2006

Final Stats

PRAIRIE VIEW, Tex. - The way Alabama State has played of late, Monday night's contests against Prairie View A&M was not about securing a good seed in the upcoming Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament. It was more about restoring confidence in a team that had lost three straight and struggled to find any consistency over the last month.

But while the Lady Hornets needed a late surge to post a 61-57 win over Lady Panthers, head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson was just happy her team found its way back to the win column.

"This is not the same Prairie View everyone talks about. They've been playing extremely well," Freeman-Jackson said. "It was a must-win for us, especially to get momentum heading into the Grambling game and the SWAC Tournament."

ASU (12-13, 9-7) dominated the Lady Panthers (7-19, 6-10) 52-40 on the boards and held them to 29 percent shooting from the field. But it took a strong defensive effort down the stretch - holding Prairie View without a basket for the last four minutes of the game - to give the Lady Hornets the victory.

The Lady Hornets literally tossed Prairie View a lifeline in the first half by committing 18 turnovers that turned into 12 points. So despite shooting 50 percent for most of the half while the Lady Panthers missed 11 of their first 12 shots from the field, ASU trailed 26-24.

"That's very frustrating. If we could've continued to play well in the first half, the other team might have lost their confidence," Freeman-Jackson said. "But it's hard to just win a game in the first half because basketball is a game of runs and they made theirs."

Bama State came back in the second half behind the hot shooting of reserve guard Rhonda Brown. She hit four of her five 3-pointers after halftime to give ASU a big offensive boost.

"She shot the ball extremely well, but it started with our big girls capitalizing on the inside," Freeman-Jackson said. "They gave her more time and more room to be open."

Forwards Nedra Thomas and Latille Ross combined for 13 points, 17 rebounds and three blocked shots. Danielle Sanders was equally effective, scoring 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting while grabbing five rebounds and blocking two shots.

"We knew she was capable of playing better than she has so far this season," Freeman-Jackson said of Sanders, who scored 16 points Saturday night at Texas Southern. "She's given us more production and has really stepped up for us."

Tanesha Barefield scored 21 points and Ciara Sanders added 16 to lead Prairie View.