Box Score The Alabama State women's basketball team had its five game home win streak snapped by Mercer University, Friday night at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
 
"I knew it would be a tough game for us because Mercer is a team that has similar play to Samford and Troy. "said head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson.  They ran their offense extremely well; we just made simple mistakes that hurt us throughout the game".  
 
 In a the loss Nakiya Smith led the way for the Lady Hornets with 24 points , seven rebounds, two assist and two steals. Quentori Alford had 12 rebounds to lead Alabama State along with seven points.  
 
"Nakiya played big for us on the offensive end, she got tired towards the end of the game spending a lot of her energy on defense, but overall she had a great game. Quentori worked hard tonight getting 12 rebounds but, stuggled on the offensive end, due to Mercer's Teanna Robinson's size having quite a bit of trouble throughout the game," said Freeman-Jackson.
 
 The Lady Hornets opened up the first half in a slump shooting going 1 for 7 (14.3%) as Mercer jumped out to an early 6-2 lead at the 15:45 mark. As the Hornets and Bears battled throughout the half, ASU found themselves down by as much as ten with 7:15 left in the half until the Lady Hornets leading scorer for the half Smith with 13 points sparked a key 12-2 run pulling the Hornets within two points in the final two minutes of play.  Mercer then closed out the half on a 5-0 run heading into halftime with a 38-31 lead.   
 
ASU closed out the first half shooting 14-35 (40%) from the field. Quentori Alford led the Hornets in rebounds with six, and Brittney Smith in assist with three at the end of the half.
 
 The second half saw ASU's Smith came out of the tunnel with a scoring barrage as she led the Lady Hornets with a key 9-0 run tying the game 42-42 at the 14:50 mark in the second half.  Mercer would then fight back outscoring the Lady Hornets 13-8 heading into the final three minutes of the match.   In the final minute of play the Lady Hornets would fall short as the Bears made their final free throws and captured the victory.
 
The Lady Hornets finished the game shooting 33.3% (20-60) from the field.  
 
Alabama State will wrap up their home game front as ASU will play host to Savannah State University Sunday, December 22 at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome. The contest is slated for 3 p.m.
 
                                                                                          -Go Hornets-