Tuesday night, the Lady Tigers turned the ball over 28 times, missed 15 free throws, and only madethree 3-pointers as they handed the Alcorn State University Lady Braves their first win of the season in a 71-58 loss.
“We just didn’t do anything,” said Head Coach Pat Bibbs. “We didn’t play any defense, we did execute offensively. We just didn’t play.”
Coach Bibbs said that her team wasn’t hungry enough on Tuesday night as they lost to a team that was winless coming in to Hobdy Arena. Prior to the loss to Alcorn State (1-12, 1-3 SWAC), the Lady Tigers scored a season high 92 points against the Southern Jaguars, who was picked to finish second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference according to the AP coaches poll. Meanwhile, the Alcorn Lady Braves lost to their 12th consecutive game to Jackson State.
Both teams struggled from a sluggish start in the tightly contest first half. Alcorn held their largest lead in the first half at the 17:27 mark, which was 4-0, after that point both teams were neck and neck. Neither team held a lead larger than three.
The Lady Braves held a 24-23 lead at the half and they owe much credit to the Lady Tigers for that.
“We turned the ball over too much, we were the ones putting pressure on, we turned the ball over,” said Bibbs. “Tonight it was not Grambling’s team, it wasn’t Grambling.”
In the second half, the South Western Athletic Conference leading scorer Joanna Miller, was held to 7 points in the first half, but caught fire after halftime. Miller opened the half scoring 11 of Grambling’s first 14 points and the Lady Tigers held their largest lead of the game 37-30. Miller finished with 23 points.
Alcorn battled back as they went on an 8-1 to tie the game at 38 at the 13:36 mark. Grambling again took a 44-42 lead at the 12:13 mark, but it was all Alcorn down the stretch. SWAC’s fourth leading scorer Carolinisia Crumbly did most of her damage late in the game. Crumbly scored 10 of her 20 points in the last nine minutes of the game.
While Miller was the only player for Grambling to score in double figures, Alcorn’s Tierra Frost helped Crumbly with 23 points off the bench.
The Lady Tigers (2-13, 1-3SWAC) will travel to the William Nicks Center on Jan.13 to take on the Prairie View Lady Panthers (4-9, 1-2 SWAC). Tip off begins at 3 p.m.