BATON ROUGE &045; Alcorn guard Shikhia Sims wondered where in the F.G. Clark Activity Center did that 5-5 baby blue and white flash come from?

She’s not the first.

Sims joined a growing sector that have been pleasantly surprised by the explosiveness Southern walk-on Jovanni Anderson brings to the Lady Jaguars’ lineup.

Southern head coach Sandy Pugh is on that list.

Anderson, who originally came to Baton Rouge from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on a track scholarship, nagged Pugh all of last year for a chance to be a part of the team.

However, Pugh has a strict policy against allowing walk-ons and refused to stray from that. Anderson persisted until Pugh finally caved and welcomed Anderson on &045; as a manager for two weeks.

It was there Anderson was able to prove herself through practices and earn a spot on the team.

&uot;That shows you how much I know,&uot; Pugh said of the sophomore guard whose steal and layup with 18 seconds left ensure Southern’s 76-68 victory over the Lady Braves.

&uot;I cannot tell you how many times that girls has won a game for us just by doing the little things.&uot;

Down four after Lady Jag Shere Cunningham made a pair of free throws with 34 seconds left, Alcorn brought the ball up with Sims in hopes of turning the game into a one-possession affair.

However, Anderson telegraphed the Sims’ pass and drove past midcourt for the uncontested layup.

The mistake was a recurring theme for the Lady Braves (6-11, 5-4), which committed 19 turnovers to snap their four-game Southwestern Athletic Conference winning streak.

The defeat also spoiled the return of LaToya Johnson, who led Alcorn with 17 points after a 28-day layoff recovering from a broken nose.

&uot;I thought (Johnson) played pretty well, but I look a lot at the turnovers that killed this team,&uot; Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker said. &uot;And that was against a team that didn’t put a lot of pressure on us.&uot;

The Lady Braves, who led by as many as six in the second half thanks largely to sheer dominance on the glass (42-27), watched the gap flip 180 degrees with Southern (9-8, 7-2) going up half dozen courtesy of a 10-0 run.

Anderson, who finished with five points, had another one of her three steals and layups with 7:45 left to give the Lady Jags their biggest lead at that point, 60-53.

&uot;This feels awesome. I watched the team a lot last year,&uot; Anderson said of Southern. &uot;Basketball has always been my heart. She never told me, ‘No, don’t come back,’ so I kept asking. I knew once I got a shot I was going to show her I wanted to be a part of the team.&uot;

Rolanda Monroe, who had a game-high 22 points, ignited the 10-0 surge with 11:40 remaining when she converted two of three free throws after Johnson fouled her beyond the 3-point arc.

The Lady Braves abused Southern’s zone defense early one, feeding the ball into post players Candace Roberts and Tnonealyer Powers for easy buckets.

Roberts had 10 of her 14 points in the first half, pushing around Lady Jag true freshman Fredreika Lewis all over the paint.

&uot;I thought the biggest difference was the defense,&uot; said, who starts a pair of freshman and sophomores. &uot;They were spreading us to thin early. We knew they didn’t have anybody to hit 3-pointers, so we tried to fall back and force them to the perimeter.&uot;

Powers’ two-footer on the low block with 10:13 left in the first gave Alcorn its first lead of the game, 17-15.

Alcorn continued to dominate the offensive glass, totaling 21 rebounds &045; nine on the offensive end &045; for the first 20 minutes, and Johnson continued to show no effects of her long absence.

The sequence of events that typified her return was a drive late in the first half, in which she attacked the glass from the baseline, challenged two defenders, somehow got the off-balanced layup to drop and drew a foul.

&uot;I thought we played bad and then came back,&uot; Walker said. &uot;The way we’ve been playing over the last few games, I thought if we could crank it up, we’d come out with a win.&uot;