Lady Hornets Advance Past Lady Wildcats After Monstrous 2nd Quarter
The Alabama State Lady Hornets had a monstrous second quarter to pull away early to defeat the Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats 70-61 and advance to the SWAC semifinals.
Alabama State women's basketball head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson at the 2023 SWAC Women's Basketball Tournament; Credit: Wade Event Photography
Shmya Ward had a game-high 20 points with 11 rebounds to lead Alabama State. Jayla Crawford and Cordasia Harris scored double-digits for the Lady Hornets, scoring 16 and 10 points, respectively.
Four players recorded double figures for Bethune-Cookman, led by Nia Jordan's 13 points. Kayla Clark added 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, including nine on the offensive glass. D'Shantae Edwards and Chanel Wilson were the other double-digit scorers, contributing 11 points each.
Both teams shot poorly in the first stanza as Alabama State and Bethune-Cookman were 33.3% from the field and combined 2-for-10 (20%) on 3-pointers.
The Lady Wildcats made one more field goal and free throw to give them a 15-12 advantage in the opening period.
Alabama State poured it on thick in the second quarter on a 19-2 with Dakiyah Sanders capping the first half with a floater at the buzzer.
Crawford scored six of her 16 points, and Ward scored eight of her 20 points in the second quarter as Alabama State shot over 50% from the floor and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. The Lady Hornets outscored Bethune-Cookman 25-7 to lead 37-22 at halftime.
The Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Hornets in the second half, and head coach Freda Freeman-Jackson said it was because the team went away from what made it successful.
"We wanted to just score the ball," Freeman-Jackson said after the game. "And I keep telling them in a tournament, you win a championship by playing defense. I thought we let up and had too many missed assignments."
Freeman-Jackson emphasized that her team needed to play better defense moving forward and that the win was only "Chapter One," and the goal was to get to "Chapter Three," the championship game.
The Lady Hornets move on to the SWAC semifinals, where they will play Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 11 a.m. CT. ESPN+ will broadcast the game.