The Texas Southern women's basketball team improved to 3-0 in SWAC play after an 88-65 victory over rival Prairie View A&M Saturday night. Niya Mitchell and Ciani Cryor were a dynamic duo for Texas Southern as Mitchell posted a monster double-double of 23 points and 21 rebounds while Cryor scored 25 points; dished out five assists and added four rebounds.
Texas Southern never trailed in the ball game. TSU senior Breasia McElrath scored the first four points of the game; then, Mitchell scored with a tip-in followed by a Cryor lay-up for an 8-0 lead. Texas Southern led Prairie View 20-12 after the first quarter. Six different players scored at least two points for Texas Southern in the opening 10 minutes of action.
Prairie View (3-12, 0-3 SWAC) was able to get within four points of TSU three times in the second quarter. Prairie View trailed 36-31 when Cryor nailed a three-point basket then scored a layup to boost Texas Southern's lead to 41-31 with 2:19 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers led Prairie View 42-31 at halftime.
Texas Southern outscored Prairie View A&M 16-4 in the paint in the third period and led by as much as 17 points (62-45) in the third quarter. Prairie View ended the third quarter with an 8-2 run to cut Texas Southern's lead to 64-53 after 30 minutes.
Prairie View's Kennedy Paul knocked down a jumper to begin the scoring in the fourth quarter. Then, PVAMU's Tatyana Perez drained a jumper and layup to trim Texas Southern's margin to five (64-59) with 7:44 remaining in the ball game.
Over the next 6:11, Cryor and Mitchell combined for 17 of TSU's next 19 points during a decisive 19-4 run to boost the Tigers' lead to 83-63 with 1:30 left in the game.
Texas Southern shot 54.9 percent (34-for-62) from the floor in the game and 15-for-18 from the free throw line. Prairie View A&M shot 50.9 percent (29-for-57) from the floor; however, the Panthers were just 4-for-4 from the foul line.
In addition to Cryor's 25 points and Mitchell's 23 points, TSU's Tamaria White scored 11 points off the bench in 18 minutes. Prairie View's Diana Rosental scored a team-high 15 points while Kennedy Paul and Tatyana Perez scored 14 points each. Dominique Newman added 10 points.
Texas Southern's next game is Saturday, Jan. 18 at Jackson State. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
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Courtesy: TSU Athletics