The opportunity was there. 
 
Trailing against conference foe Southern for the entire night, save for a 2-0 lead in the opening two minutes, the Lady Hornets' furious comeback fell just short in a 53-49 defeat at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome on Monday. 
 
Alabama State (8-9 overall, 4-3 SWAC) trailed by 12 at the break, but surged down the stretch with a 9-0 run over the final six minutes of regulation to cut the lead to one. 
 
Lady Hornets' center Jasmine Peeples came up with a block as the shot clock was winding down for Southern and passed up ahead to Birmingham native Brittney Smith, who made it 50-49 with 30 seconds left. 
 
But that's as close as ASU would come as Southern junior guard Britney Washington sank two free throws to extend the lead to 52-49 with 25 seconds left on the clock.  An ASU turnover on an offensive foul and a defensive foul put the Lady Jaguars' Shanquandria Litmon on the line.  She made 1-of-2 for the final point of the game. 
 
ASU sophomore Britney Wright produced another solid performance to lead the Lady Hornets.  Entering as the SWAC's second-leading scorer at 15 points a game, Wright dropped in 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds and two steals.  She was 2-of-5 from downtown and 3-of-5 from the line. 
 
But, the rest of the Lady Hornets struggled as a team shooting from the floor as it shot 11-of-44 (25 percent) and Southern held a 45-39 advantage in rebounds.
 
"You got to make easy layups," said Alabama State women's basketball coach Freda Freeman-Jackson. "You already know that you're going to miss some jumpers.  But when you get to the cup, you have to finish.  [In the second half] We had a lot of energy, but we dug a big hole for ourselves.  We had a chance to win it in the final minute or so, but we didn't do the things that we needed to do to finish the ball game." 
 
Three players reached double-digit in scoring for Southern (8-10 overall, 6-2 SWAC). Kendra Coleman led with 14 points, Jasmine Jefferson added 12 and Briana Green had 10 points to help Southern stretch their winning streak to five.
 
During ASU's comeback spurt, sophomore Daniele Ewert rattled in a jumper from near the top of the key to make it 48-38 with 9:10 left.  Kayla Stephens cut the lead to eight with a feathery touch from straightaway, but a Coleman bucket pushed it back to a 10-point advantage with 5:55 left. 
 
Peeples knocked down a jumper and then boxed out her defender on the other side of the floor.  Wright got a long rebound, going coast-to-coast, before banking a shot in and drawing the foul to get ASU within 50-44 with 3:47 left. 
 
After Southern committed a shot clock violation, Peeples split a pair of free throws. A lost loose ball out of bounds gave it back to ASU.  Ewert swished a jumper to make it 50-47 with 1:50 left.  With the press defense on, the Hornets forced a jump ball to get the possession back.    
 
Wright's 3-point attempt just grazed the front of the rim and Jefferson secured the rebound with 1:36 to go. 
 
Jefferson made 5-of-8 from the field for all 12 points of her points in the first half and the Lady Jags' enjoyed a plus eight advantage on the glass at the break. Wright led ASU with nine points at the half. 
 
Southern led 8-2 with 15:15 remaining in the first half when Jefferson knocked down a jumper from 18 feet.  Jefferson extended the lead to 15-5 on another jumper with 10:21 left. 
 
The teams traded baskets for the much of the half from that point forward.   Wright splashed a 3-pointer, but the Lady Jags' Coleman answered right back with a 3-pointer of her own to make it 18-8 with 8:32 left. 
 
ASU freshman point guard Shamyiah Smith stripped the ball for a steal and made a contested lay in, but Jefferson connected again to get the lead back to 10 with 7:47 in the half. 
 
Wright converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, driving for a layup and drawing a foul before make the free throw to close within 35-25 with four seconds to go in the opening half. 
 
Southern's Jadea Brundidge made a shot at the buzzer to give the Lady Jags' a 37-25 halftime lead.  
 
Peeples had eight points, nine rebounds, two steals and a block.  Ewert, Stephens and Ashunte Smith had six points apiece. 
 
The Lady Hornets will travel next to Houston to take on Texas Southern on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. for a conference showdown.
 
                                                                                                        #GOHORNETS#