Montgomery — Shanice Merrit scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Alabama State Lady Hornets beat Alabama A&M University 63-52 Saturday night at the ASU Acadome.

It was the fourth straight win for the Lady Hornets (11-12, 8-5 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play).

The Bulldogs of Alabama A&M (9-12, 7-5) opened the game with an 11-point run as Katrick Williams hit three 3-point shots in a row.

The first points for the Lady Hornets were two free throws by L'Teisha Holloway, who finished with 11 points.

ASU was able to tie the game at 23-23 at the 2:33 mark and went into the locker room with the score knotted at 26.

In the second half, the Lady Hornets dominated the boards and shot 50 percent from the field leading, enabling them to build up a lead of as many as 14 points.

Williams led the A&M Bulldogs with 20 points.

The Lady Hornets, who moved into third place in the conference standings, embark on a two-game road trip this weekend, facing Southern on Saturday in Baton Rouge, and then traveling to Lorman, Miss., on Monday to play Alcorn State.

The game against Southern is an important one as the Lady Jaguars (12-8, 9-3) are in second place in the conference standings, just one game ahead of ASU. Prairie View A&M is atop the SWAC standings with a 10-4 conference mark.