FINAL STATS

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Alabama State's women's basketball team battled in a hard-fought 55-50 loss against rival A&M Saturday evening in the T.M. Elmore Gymnasium.

The loss drops ASU to 4-12 overall and 1-4 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play. Alabama A&M improves to 9-6 and 5-0 with the victory.  The Bulldogs are the only team in the conference with a perfect record.

Tanika Jackson, ASU's leading scorer on the season, was held to only three points 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 four rebounds and one assist.

Jackson finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds, this makes her ninth double-double of the season. Millicent Jones added nine points to ASU's loss.

A&M's Whiquitta Tobar led all scorers with 23 points followed by teammates Nesfayia Watkins and NaDra Robertson each adding 12 points apiece.

Both teams were neck and neck tying the first half three times up until the 3:36 mark when Alabama A&M went on an 8-0 run.  Alabama State answered back with a lay-up by Jackson with 50 seconds left closing out the half 27-21 in favor of the Bulldogs.

A&M came out in the second half taking another 10 point advantage over the Lady Hornets.  Bama State battled back closing the deficit to just three points following a Jackson bucket with 11:36 left in the period. The Lady Bulldogs responded by scoring the next five points to push another 10 point lead.

The Lady Hornets again pulled to within three points in the closing seconds on a three point shot by Erica Henderson, but Tobar hit a jumper in the lane and hit a and-one putting the bulldogs up by five giving them the 55-50 victory.

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

Alabama State now gets a week off from competition before returning to SWAC action at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome hosting Southern University next Saturday (Jan. 22).