MONTGOMERY, Ala. | After playing a conference only schedule last season, head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson and her Alabama State Hornets will take the floor on Saturday afternoon in their first non-conference matchup since 2019.
 
Alabama State (16-4 last season) hits the floor this Saturday to open their 2021-22 campaign against Tuskegee at 3 pm in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome. The two teams have met three times under Coach Jackson, with the Hornets taking all three meetings, with the last being a 53-46 win on November 24, 2006.
 
The Hornets return 11 players who saw major playing time last season including First Team Preseason All-SWAC performers and leading scorers Ayana Emmanuel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) who averaged 16.4 points, 4.2 assists and 2.8 assists per game along with Shmya Ward (Memphis, Tenn.) who put up 16.4 points, and 10 rebounds per contest. Alabama State also return Jayla Crawford (Birmingham, Ala.) who finished last year as the third-leading scorer at 14.1 points and 3.0 rebounds per contest while shooting 51.3 percent from the field in 20 contests, earning Second Team Preseason All-SWAC honors.
 
They also return Tyesha Rudolph (Evergreen, Ala.) who posted 7.6 points and 3.8 rebounds last season, along with the previous two SWAC Freshman of the Year award winners in forwards Farrah Pearson (Hazel Green, Ala.) and Aniyah Smith (Birmingham, Ala.).
 
Alabama State also added several newcomers to this season's roster including a group of transfers. Kailya Jackson (Gainesville, Fla.) who sat out last season at Florida A&M due to COVID-19. The graduate student averaged 6.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game during the 2019-20 season with the Rattlers and recorded three or more steals on eight different occasions.
 
Joining her is Jada Nneji (Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada) who averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds and was named to the Horizon League All-Defensive Team twice. The graduate student is Illinois-Chicago's career leader in blocks with 167 in her four years with the Flames, and is joined by Tamia Stallings (Brookhaven, Miss.) who averaged 2.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in just over 15 minutes per contest at Jacksonville last year.
 
Brazyll Watkins (Battle Creek, Mich.) is the lone freshman of the bunch, coming to the Hornets after playing at Lakeview High School and being named All-State twice and the 2021 Battle Creek Enquirer Female Athlete of the Year.
 
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