JACKSON, Miss. – The Alabama State University women's basketball team can lock up the third seed in the upcoming Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Championship Tournament with a victory over Jackson State University on the road Saturday night.
Tip is set for 5:30 pm.
Alabama State (13-14, 12-5 SWAC) finds itself one game behind Grambling State and Texas Southern in the standings, and one game ahead of Southern. A win on Saturday, or a loss by Southern, would ensure the Lady Hornets would earn the number three seed in the upcoming tournament and face Arkansas-Pine Bluff at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
"You want to play good going into the tournament," Alabama State head coach
Freda Freeman-Jackson said. "You want to improve on what you are doing well, and correct the mistakes and make adjustments. You always want to be playing well down the stretch heading into the tournament."
The Lady Hornets and Jackson State (11-16, 5-12) – who is eliminated from play in the championship tournament – have met once already this season. Alabama State defeated Jackson State 73-64 in overtime back on January 4 to start a six-game winning streak, and in that contest
Britney Wright led Alabama State with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Danielle Clark added 16 and
Daniele Ewert 11 in the Lady Hornets' win, while Victory Harvey added 10 rebounds.
Alabama State has won back-to-back games behind Wright's offensive explosion as she is averaging 32.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in those two contests, including matching her career-high of 35 against Prairie View A&M. The senior is averaging 18.5 points per game this season for Alabama State, as well as 7.4 rebounds; while also averaging 22 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in conference play.
Wright has scored 1,776 points for her career as she became the second-leading scorer in school history, while also grabbing 865 rebounds. The senior has scored in double figures 22 times this season, including 16 consecutive games; all while scoring 20-plus points 14 times in 27 games.
Ewert enters Saturday night as the second-leading scorer on the team at 9.8 points per game, while Clark raised her average almost an entire point with a career-high 22 points against Grambling State on Thursday night.
Derica Wiggins leads Jackson State at 12.1 points per game this season.
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