Sports

Lady Tigers drop 80-72 decision to JsU, lose second consecutive sWaC game

GSU Athletics

Thursday, January 25, 2018

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points, 10 rebounds and sev- en assists. Anthony Gaston, the SWAC College Madness Player of the Week, tallied 16 points, seven boards, two assists and one steal. Axel Mpoyo registered 13 points and five rebounds, while Shirmane Thomas, the SWAC Player of the Week, recorded 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Di- ontae Jones chipped in with 10 points off the bench.

remaining. Grambling State turned up

son State on Saturday after- noon at the Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Cen- ter.

Hill registered 11 points, six assists and four boards.

free throws by Justice Cole- man with five seconds left, but Ellis’ jumper at the buzzer gave Jackson State a 52-46 advantage after three quarters.

The Grambling State Uni- versity men’s basketball team left little doubt on Saturday as GSU up-ended one of the two unbeaten teams in the South western Athletic Conference (SWAC), Jackson State, 72- 45, at the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Cen- ter.

the intensity and used a 20-5 run over the next six min- utes to grab a 31-13 advan- tage with 7:05 left. The lead stretched to 39-19 after a Jason Perry Murray dunk with 3:56 remaining and GSU took a commanding 46-23 advan- tage into the second half.

Grambling State (7-11 overall, 4-3 SWAC) led 17- 12 at the end of one quarter and were tied with Jackson State at 30 at the break. Jack- son State 10-6, 5-2) outscored Grambling State, 22-16, in the third and held off a late charge in the fourth to pick up the win.

Christina Ellis led five Jackson State players in dou- ble figures with 18 points, four rebounds, three steals and three assists. Katie Hunt added a double-double of 12 points and 13 boards, while Kawaii Perry recorded 11 points and a pair of assists. Derica Wiggins and Marnei- sha Hamer each tallied 10 points.

Jackson State pushed the margin to 61-50 after a Ham- er layup with 7:48 left, but Grambling State kept fight- ing back, cutting the deficit to 63-60 after a Coleman layup with 5:03 remaining.

Grambling State (8-12 overall, 4-3 SWAC), winners of four straight, led from start to finish over Jackson State. GSU led 46-23 at the half and outscored Jackson State, 26- 22, to pick up the SWAC win.

Maurice Rivers led Jack- son State (9-11, 6-1) with 12 points as he was the lone JSU player to reach double figures.

Jackson State cut the defi- cit to 52-36 after two free throws by Rivers with 10:03 left, but that would be as close as they would get as Gram- bling State was able to had JSU its first SWAC loss.

Monisha Neal, who came into the game needing 24 points to reach 1,000 for her collegiate career, finished with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Grambling State of- fense. Jazmin Boyd came off the bench and scored 11 points, including 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Shakyla

With the game tied at 30 at the half, Jackson State held Grambling State with- out a bucket from the field for five minutes and used a 12-2 run, capped by a pair of free throws by Wiggins to take a 48-38 lead with 2:29 remaining in the third quarter.

That would be as close as Grambling State would get in dropping its second straight game.

Ivy Smith, Jr., paced five Grambling State players in double figures as he finished just three assists shy of a triple-double. Smith tallied 16

Grambling State led 7-2 after a Smith jumper with 17:58 left in the first half, but Jackson State battled back and cut the margin to 11-8 af- ter a River layup with 13:26

The women’s basketball team fell behind early in the third quarter and could not re- cover in dropping its second consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) game, falling, 82-70 to Jack-

Grambling State trimmed the deficit to 50-46 after two

Both teams will have a week off before resuming action as GSU will visit Arkan- sas-Pine Bluff on Saturday, Jan. 27. Tip-off is set for the women’s game is 5 p.m. fol- lowed by the men’s game at 7 p.m. in Pine Bluff, Ark.