LORMAN &045; Keairra Levy just smiled and shook off the fact that for the first time in over a year she didn’t can a 3-pointer.

No big deal, really.

Not that a triple was really needed for the Alcorn State Lady Braves, who pounded it inside more and more as the game went on before taking a 74-57 win over Alabama A&M Saturday night in SWAC action.

The win keeps the Lady Braves in the running to host a first-round conference tournament game, and that’s really what Levy is most concerned about.

&uot;No I didn’t, but it didn’t get me down,&uot; said Levy, a senior who hit a 3-pointer in 27 straight games dating back to Feb. 18, 2002, against those same Lady Bulldogs. &uot;All of my teammates stepped up for me. That was great. They stepped up. Coach told us to go inside.&uot;

That was the game plan from the start, and it became more evident as the game went on for the Lady Braves

(10-4, 16-8). They finished the game with 37 rebounds to A&M’s 20 while coming away empty from behind the 3-point arc in six attempts.

That’s far below their regular average, but so is just six tries.

&uot;Since their post was on the bench, coach told us to go inside and get them in foul trouble,&uot; said Alcorn post Tnonealyer Powers, who finished with 13 points and 11 boards. &uot;Just getting position. On the offensive rebounds, following where the shot was going and crashing the boards. It wasn’t a height advantage. We were in pretty good position. We were taking it to the hole, and we had the other guards come in and step up, too.&uot;

The Lady Bulldogs (3-10, 7-14) fell behind late in the first half and couldn’t get within 11 in the second half, and forward Davida Webster fouled out late.

That helped Powers and 6-0 post Candace Roberts combine for 13 points in the second half, including consecutive baskets in the last six minutes to put a 61-49 lead to 65-49 with 4:58 left.

&uot;I think we went in with the same game plan coach set out for them,&uot; Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker said.&160;&uot;We knew their first five were the people they were depending on. We tried to wear them down and do some things we wanted to do. We felt like A&M’s strength was in their guards and their inside wasn’t that strong.&uot;

If it wasn’t the inside game rolling, the Lady Braves got some key stops at time in the second half and late in the first half to deny A&M’s guards.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed 36-26 at halftime before falling behind 45-30 when Kimberly Pratcher hit two free throws with 15:50 left to trim the lead to 13.

The Lady Braves came up empty on their next possession but got perhaps the defensive play of the game when senior Zandra Hall knocked the ball away, battled for the loose ball, picked it up and beat her defender to the goal for a layup with 15:06 left.

&uot;We had to go with strong defense,&uot; Levy said. &uot;We know we have a good offense, but we depend on our defense to win the game. Coach told us to go out, play hard and let the defense take it on in for us. The last time we played them their guards beat us. We had to come out and prove to them we had better guards.&uot;

A&M started strong and stayed with the Lady Braves for the first 15 minutes before Alcorn started to pull away. Pratcher hit a bucket with 6:28 left to trim the lead to 20-18, but that’s when the Lady Braves got rolling.

Latoya Johnson &045;&160;who finished with a career-high 22 points &045; hit two free throws to spark a 10-2 run that ended with a Johnson layup for a 30-20 lead.

&uot;I think earlier than that (ASU pulled away),&uot;&160;A&M head coach Altherias Warmley said.&160;&uot;They did a very good job of making the best of their shot opportunities. They had a young lady No. 10 (Johnson) who did a good job.&uot;