LORMAN &045; No matter how many times the Texas Southern bench begged for its players to block out on the boards, the message always seemed scrambled Thursday.

Alcorn held just a plus-1 margin on the glass for the game against the Lady Tigers, but every long or pivotal rebound seemed to go to the Lady Braves.

Alcorn, in control for nearly 38 minutes of the night, had to withstand a late Texas Southern run for the 67-63 Southwestern Athletic Conference victory.

&uot;I think we did do a better job on the boards,&uot; Lady Braves head coach Shirley Walker said. &uot;(Candace) Roberts did a remarkable job, and so did (Tawny) Whiting off the bench. The boards were a big turnaround for us tonight.&uot;

The numbers were not eye-popping, but LaToya Johnson’s 14 points led four players in double figures for Alcorn. Shikhia Sims and Roberts each poured in 11 points and Rasaan Powell added 10.

Down the stretch Tnonealyer Powers provided four of her eight points to ensure the win, which avenged a 56-48 loss in Houston on Jan. 3.

The Lady Tigers aired it out from beyond the 3-point arc often in the second half, looking for a home run shot to get them back into the contest.

While TSU finished just 8 of 22 (36.4 percent), it did get an Alena Noel trey to cut the Alcorn lead to 61-60 with 2:12 left.

&uot;When we’re making those shots, we’re a good team,&uot; Lady Tigers head coach Claude Cummings said. &uot;But when we’re off like tonight, we’re not very good.&uot;

While Cummings pleaded for his players to get energized after Noel’s 3 &045; her fourth of the game. Powers, who pulled down a team-high nine boards, sank a free-throw line jumper on the other end, putting the Lady Braves up three.

Roberts got a steal on the other end and Walker called a timeout to set up a play. Despite, Roberts being the first option, the Lady Braves worked the play to perfection to Powers, who flashed down the gut of the lane.

&uot;We were trying to run a play for Candace down low. (Powers) cut down the lane and it worked,&uot; Walker said. &uot;She doesn’t do that often, but it worked tonight.&uot;

The bucket put Alcorn up 65-60 and proved to be the icing on the cake with 48 seconds remaining.

Monica Okolo, who led TSU with 17 points and nine boards, canned a triple to cut the gap to three, but it was a too little too late. Crystal Robinson and Noel added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

&uot;There was no life whatsoever,&uot; Cummings said of his team’s performance. &uot;That’s a great way to describe the way we played tonight. It’s rather disappointing, but we’ll try and get the next one.&uot;

The two teams exchanged buckets for the first five minutes of the second half, the Alcorn margin see-sawing between seven and nine points.

Out of a designed play, Noel ran off a pick, marked her spot and buried her third trey of the game to bring the Lady Tigers within six, 47-41, with 14:40 remaining.

Sims answered back with two free throws, and the Lady Braves hovered between six and eight points for the next 4 1/2 minutes.

&uot;Shak (Sims’ nickname) is pretty consistent, but she was having a hard time shooting tonight. I just told her to fight through it,&uot; Walker said. &uot;We were trying to get the ball inside, and we made the shots when we needed to make them.&uot;

It was again another TSU triple, this one from Brittany Turner, which brought the Lady Tigers within three, 53-50, with 8:45 left. It was the closest Texas Southern had been since the Lady Braves led 31-28 late in the first half.

&uot;We changed up our defense from a zone to a man,&uot; Walker said. &uot;We wanted to wear them down so those arms would give out.&uot;

The Lady Tigers held the lead for a grand total of 17 seconds, scoring the game’s first bucket at the 19:39 mark. They immediately surrendered a bucket to Roberts on the other end, which tied the game with 19:22 remaining.

Despite some tense moments throughout the first half, the Lady Braves never relinquished their lead.

The Lady Tigers got within a point on three occasions, but Alcorn always had an answer.

&uot;They have very good guards, but they’re an all-around solid team,&uot; Cummings said. &uot;When they’re working together like tonight, they’re hard to beat.&uot;

&uot;I thought we played better defense, but they’ve gotten much better. It used to be in the past, teams thought any time you faced Texas Southern or Prairie View it was a guaranteed win for you. Both of those teams have good talent.

&uot;We haven’t been there in a long time. We played like we’re content with just being there. It reflected like that tonight.

&uot;It was a very low percentage shot instead of them taking ones in the paint, where they are very good. We were trying to take away that inside game.