Nicholls has no answers against Alcorn’s inside game in 54-46 loss to Lady Braves

Whenever the Nicholls women’s basketball team made it a one-possession game down the stretch, the Alcorn Lady Braves seemed to answer.

Spending most of the second half trying to erase what had been a 12-point deficit in the third quarter, Nicholls managed to get within two points at 39-37 on a layup by Britiya Curtis with 5:33 remaining in the game, but Alcorn answered with a jumper by Destiny Brown and two Zy’Nyia White free throws.

Curtis hit a 3-pointer with 3:04 left to make the score 44-41, but White countered with a jumper.

Two free throws by Curtis allowed Nicholls to get within 46-43 with 1:39 left in the game but a Kiarra Henderson layup with 55 seconds remaining in the game put the game out of reach as the Lady Colonels fell 54-46 Thursday night in Lorman, Miss.

Alcorn seemed to have just enough cushion to hold off the Lady Colonels thanks to a key stretch of 5:01 to close the first half and open the second.

Nicholls led twice in the game for a grand total of two minutes, the last time at 20-19 in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Traya Bruce with 3:17 remaining before halftime.

Alcorn scored the final seven points of the half when a 3-pointer by Nia McCalpia was sandwiched between a pair of baskets by Brown to give the Lady Braves a 26-20 halftime lead.

The Lady Braves scored the first six points of the second half on baskets by Tyginae Wright, White, and Brown, for a 32-20 lead by the 7:34 mark and Nicholls spent the remainder of the game attempting to rally.

While Alcorn was able to answer Nicholls late in the game, the Lady Colonels had no answer for the Lady Braves’ inside game.

Alcorn out-rebounded Nicholls 48-27, including 15-3 on the offensive glass. The Lady Braves scored 28 points in the paint to eight for Nicholls. Alcorn had 14 second-chance points to only two for the Lady Colonels.

Neither team shot well with Alcorn hitting on 20 of 61 attempts from the field (32.8 percent) and only 1 of 12 from 3-point range (8.3 percent).

Nicholls was 14 of 48 from the field (29.2 percent) and 7 of 28 from distance (25 percent).

Brown, the Lady Braves’ senior center, scored 16 points and had six rebounds. White also had 16 points and five rebounds for Alcorn. Nakia Cheatham had 13 rebounds for the Lady Braves and Harrison 11.

Curtis, a freshman guard, was the only double-figure scorer for Nicholls with 15. Guards Kyla Hamilton and Mikayla Etienne each had five rebounds to lead the team.

The loss dropped Nicholls to 5-4 on the season.

Alcorn, playing its first game at home, won for the first time this season to improve to 1-4 after opening the season with road losses against Mississippi State, Nebraska, New Orleans, and Baylor.

A pair of jumpers by Brown gave Alcorn a 4-0 lead on the Lady Braves’ way to a 14-10 lead after one period of play.

The biggest lead of the first quarter for Alcorn was five points on two occasions – at 7-2 on White three throw, and at 11-6 on a White jumper.

Following White’s jumper, Curtis connected on a 3-point to narrow the Nicholls deficit to 11-9.

Trailing 12-9, Ashley Malone hit a free throw with 41 seconds remaining in the quarter to make it a two-point game again before Alcorn went on to take its 14-10 edge after one period of play.

A layup by White to open the second quarter gave Alcorn its biggest lead of six points at 16-10.

A Bruce jumper and a Lexi Alexander layup tied the score at 17-17. After a jumper by Brown, Nicholls took its first lead of the game at 20-19 on a pull up jumper by Bruce for a 20-19 Lady Colonels edge with 3:17 remaining before halftime.