Women’s Basketball Posts Road Win In Regular Season Finale At Alcorn State

LORMAN, Miss. – Ciani Cryor scored 30 points to lead Texas Southern to an 81-67 road win over Alcorn State Saturday afternoon. The graduate transfer scored 17 points in the final quarter to help the Tigers outscore Alcorn 28-16.

TSU (19-10, 14-4) is the number two seed in the 2020 SWAC Women’s Basketball Championship which begins Tuesday night inside the H&PE Arena.

Niya Mitchell scored the first points of the game with a layup at the 7:54 mark of the opening quarter but Alcorn State (13-17, 9-9) eventually scored five consecutive points to lead 12-8. Mitchell made two free throws followed by Ataiya Bridges’ jump shot with 11 seconds remaining to tie the game at 12 after one quarter.

Richelle Velez knocked down two three-point shots in the second quarter to lead a balanced TSU scoring attack. Five different players scored in the second quarter for Texas Southern. Cryor and Bridges each scored five points in the quarter as TSU shot 50 percent and outscored Alcorn 22-16 in the second period for a 34-28 halftime lead.

Alcorn scored the first five points in the third quarter to trim TSU’s lead to 34-33 with 7:19 remaining. Cryor split two free throws for a 35-33 Tigers’ lead but the Lady Braves would respond in a big way as they went on a 9-0 run for a 44-39 lead with 3:37 left in the third quarter. TSU would fight back and reclaim the lead by outscoring ASU 12-7 over the final 3:37 for a 53-51 advantage after 30 minutes.

Alcorn State would knot the contest at 53-all early in the final quarter but TSU would go on a 9-4 run to move ahead 64-57 thanks to Cryor’s clutch three-pointer and Namiko Adams’ rebound and putback off her own missed shot with 7:03 on the clock.

Alcorn responded with a 5-0 spurt to trim TSU’s lead to 64-62 but Velez nailed her fourth three-pointer of the game for a 67-62 lead. Alcorn scored a layup to draw within three but Cryor went to work on offense and sparked a 14-3 run with 10 points (8-for-8 free throws) to run away from ASU and solidify the road win.

Cryor scored 30 points and made 15-of-16 free throw attempts in the win. In addition to her 30 points, Cryor added eight rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. Ataiya Bridges finished the game with 16 points on 7-for-12 field goal shooting while Mitchell had her 15^th double-double of the year with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Velez scored 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting from long range.

Texas Southern will host No. 7 Arkansas-Pine Bluff inside the H&PE Arena on Tuesday, March 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the quarterfinal round of the 2020 Cricket Wireless SWAC Championship.