TSU Falls Victim To 3rd Quarter Surge In Loss To Alabama State

Alabama State took control in the third quarter to pull away from TSU by a 74-62 margin Saturday evening inside the H&PE Arena.

Texas Southern (2-4, 1-3 SWAC) returned to the court for the first time in 12 days after their scheduled games against Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Mississippi Valley State were postponed due to COVID-19 contact tracing activities.

The game started off evenly as both teams battled to a 9-9 tie at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter opened in TSU’s favor as they built an early 16-9 lead after a 7-0 run but Alabama State would ultimately fight back to reclaim a 24-22 halftime lead as they outscored TSU 15-8 over the final 7:34. Turnovers hurt TSU during that span as they committed four turnovers which led to six ASU points.

ASU outscored TSU 15-7 to open the third quarter and pushed its advantage to 39-29 after Jayla Crawford’s three-point play with 5:04 remaining. TSU managed to stay around thanks to solid free throw shooting but ASU closed out the quarter red hot as they shot 5-of-7 overall and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc for a 54-40 lead.

TSU would draw within 11 less than a minute into the fourth quarter but ASU responded with a 14-5 run over the next 3:42 to claim a 21-point lead. The Tigers would continue to battle to close out the game but the early damage was too much to overcome as ASU claimed the contest.

Te-Aire Hambrick stood out as the Lady Tigers’ leading scorer with 17 points (4-10 from beyond the arc) along with an assist and a rebound. Tamaria White added 10 points off the bench with two rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

The Lady Tigers will return to the H&PE Arena on Monday, Feb. 1 as they will take on the Lady Bulldogs of Alabama A&M. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.