Led by the efforts of junior Jasmine Peeples with 15 points, the Alabama State women's basketball team defeated the Lady Lions of Pine Bluff 64-53 at the H.O. Clemmons Arena Saturday night.
 
Peeples had four rebounds and was 7-of-10 from the field shooting 70 percent to help the Lady Hornets to its first road win.  Two other Alabama State players were in double figures. Britney Wright had 14, while hot shot three-point shooter Kayla Tucker had 11 points shooting 3-of-5 from around the arc.  Daniele Ewert led ASU on the boards with 11 and added eight points in the win.
 
"If I had to say who was our savior of the day was, it would be Daniele Ewert with her 11 rebounds," said head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson.  "She did a great job coming off the bench and playing for us.  Ewert played all last year and she's a sophomore, so that makes her familiar with SWAC play.  She played with a lot of confidence and I am really proud of her."
 
The Lady Hornets (6-7, 2-1 SWAC) opened up a 20-6 lead with 11:36 on the clock in the first half that the Lady Lions could not overcome.
 
"In the first few minutes of the game I thought we took a good defensive stance containing Pine Bluff," Coach Freeman-Jackson stated.  "I think we stayed focused and played defense when we needed to, while also making baskets."
 
The Lady Lions scratched within 48-43 after two free throws from Shami Goodman, the closet Arkansas Pine Bluff would have gotten.  At this point the momentum had changed and the ASU had to take a time out.
 
"I called a time out once I saw that Pine Bluff was cutting into our lead," Freeman-Jackson said.  "I was able to settle down my team. We came back and kept our composure after that. Any time that you are on the road it can be a little scary especially with a young team.  I thought my point guard Britney Smith did a better job of controlling the team on the offensive end, and I thought that we got multiple stops on the defensive end of the ball."
 
The Lady Hornets came back and went on a surge of their own advancing by as many as 16 points with 1:58 left in the half.  Two players off the UAPB team made back-to-back threes, but it wasn't enough to cut into ASU's lead.     
 
Kayla Tucker had any early 3-pointer to take the lead right away, than Jamicia Lewis added a bucket or two to increase the lead to 20-6.  The Lady Lions went on a run of their own to cut the Lady Hornets lead to 10 making the score 37-25 at halftime.
 
"Kayla most definitely did a good job for us tonight," Freeman-Jackson said.  "She made shots when we needed her to.  The plus to it was that she allowed us to open our offense in the last five minutes of the game, because UAPB was concerned about where she was and put two players on her at a time.  This gave us an opportunity to get something happening on the inside."
 
The Lady Hornets will continue their two game road trip as they travel to Greenwood, Miss. to face the Devilettes of Mississippi Valley, Monday at 5:30 at the Greenwood Civic Center.