BATON ROUGE, La. – The Alabama State University women's basketball team used a big run in the first quarter but couldn't off a furious rally by Southern as the Lady Hornets fell, 59-53 in overtime, victory in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) game at the Minidome on Monday night.
 
"We had a great game plan coming into the game," Alabama State assistant coach Clayton Harris said. "We stuck to the game plan until the third quarter. We had a 16-point lead and then we got uncharacteristic of the things we were doing. We stopped getting into our sets and running our offense. We didn't do a good job of playing tough. All is not lost. We are still in the (SWAC) race and the good thing is that we still control our own destiny."
 
Britney Wright finished with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Hornets. She also added three assists, one block and one steal. Daniele Ewert registered 12 points, six boards and one steal as Alabama State shot 17-of-62 (27.4 percent) from the floor and 16-of-26 (61.5 percent) from the foul line.
 
The Lady Hornets (11-13 overall, 10-4 SWAC) fell behind in the first minute, 4-0, but used a dominating 15-4 run over the final nine minutes of the opening quarter to grab a 15-9 lead as Ewert and Wright accounted for nine of the 15 points.
 
Alabama State got buckets by Zomoria Clark and Danielle Clark to push the advantage to 20-9 with 9:07 left in the second quarter. A Courtnei Purnell jumper with 6:46 remaining cut the deficit to 20-12, but that was as close as the Lady Jaguars would get in the first half as the Lady Hornets took a 28-19 lead into the break.
 
Alabama State continued to push the advantage, using a 9-2 run, capped by a Wright layup to give the Lady Hornets their largest lead of the game at 37-21 lead with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter.
 
Southern (12-11, 10-5) closed out the third strong and climbed back into the game, using an 11-0 run to close the gap to 37-32 as the Lady Hornets went scoreless for the final five minutes of the period.
 
The Lady Jaguars continued to cut the deficit as buckets by Green and Purnell trimmed the Alabama State lead to 40-38 and Miaya Crowder scored on a layup as Southern was within one, at 41-40, with 6:10 left.
 
A Crowder jumper with 3:47 tied the game at 42, setting the stage for a frantic final three minutes.
Damya Tomey put the Lady Hornets up 46-44 with 1:27 left, but free throws by Crowder tied the game at 46 with one minute remaining. After a turnover by Alabama State and a foul, Crowder was sent to the free-throw line with 37 seconds left, knocking down the pair to give Southern its first lead (5-4) since the 4:36 mark of the first quarter.
 
On Alabama State's next possession, Wright scored on a layup with 26.4 left to tie the game at 48. After a turnover by Southern, Kayla Stephens 3-point attempt nearly went in and Wright's putback jumper fell short to send the game to overtime.
 
In the extra period, Southern outscored Alabama State, 11-5, to get the win.
 
Crowder paced three Lady Jaguar players in double figures with 17 points and nine rebounds. Green and Samantha Duncan recorded 12 and 10 points, respectively, as Southern shot 33.8 percent (21-of-62) and 60.7 (17-of-28) from the charity stripe.
 
Alabama State returns to action at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb 25 at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome against Texas Southern. In the previous matchup this season, the Lady Hornets got 31 points from Britney Wright and 10 points from Damya Toney in a 52-48 road loss on Jan. 28.
 
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