FINAL BOX

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama State University women's basketball team fell behind early in a hard-fought 60-50 loss against rival Alabama A&M Saturday afternoon at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.

The loss snaps a three game win streak for ASU and drops the squad to 6-8 overall and 3-2 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play. Alabama A&M improves to 8-6 and 4-1 with the victory.

Tanika Jackson finished one point shy of her fifth consecutive double-double after scoring nine points and pulling down a game-high 17 rebounds. Kimberly Hunter added nine points for ASU in the loss.

A&M's Katrich Williams led all scorers with 24 points followed by Whiquitta Tobar with 11.

ASU got off to a slow start falling behind 9-1. The Lady Hornets did not make their first field goal until a jumper by Erica Henderson at the 12:47 mark.

Bama State battled back closing the deficit to just four points following a pair of free throws by Hunter with 6:09 left in the period. The Lady Bulldogs responded by scoring the next five points to take their largest lead of the half, 23-14, less than four minutes later.

The Lady Hornets again pulled to within four points in the closing seconds on a pair of Nikel White free throws, but Tobar hit a half court shot at the buzzer sending A&M into the break with a 29-22 advantage.

The first half saw each team commit 11 turnovers as the two defenses really made things challenging for the offenses.

Jackson, ASU's leading scorer on the season, was held scoreless in the first half as the Lady Bulldogs consistently pressured her with double-teams. Despite a lack of offense, Jackson did lead the squad with five rebounds and two blocked shots.

Jackson finally scored her first points of the game with 18:14 left in the game and added another layup on the Lady Hornets next possession to pull her team to within two points, 29-27. However, A&M used a 15-4 run over the next five minutes to build its first double-digit lead of the day.

The Lady Bulldogs would lead by as many as 15 points several times during the second half, but with 3:53 left to play Hunter nailed a trey for ASU that made the score 52-42. Tandria Milton added a three-point play on Bama State's next possession to make it a single-digit deficit with just under three minutes remaining.

A pair of free throws by LeEra Lewis capped an 8-0 run by the Lady Hornets and closed the gap to just five points with 2:45 to play. Williams, who made 13 of 16 free throw attempts in the game, then made four straight free throws to put AAMU back in front by nine.

The Lady Hornets could get no closer than five points as the Lady Bulldogs were able to make free throws in the closing minutes to secure the victory.

Alabama State now gets a week off from competition before returning to SWAC action at Alcorn State next Saturday (Jan. 23).