LORMAN &045; Veteran Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker hadn’t walked into the locker room after a game this loose in quite some time.

This season, unlike many others in her 26 seasons on The Reservation, has been harrowing to say the least. Never has the phrase &uot;You just never know&uot; been more true than for this season’s Lady Braves, but on Saturday in the regular season finale she’s got a good idea of what kind of potential this team with just one senior has.

The Lady Braves (13-14, 11-7) emptied the bench and never really missed a beat in a 75-44 pounding of Prairie View on Saturday. They’ll go into the SWAC tournament next week as the No. 5 seed with Grambling as their likely first-round opponent.

&uot;That was a good win for us tonight,&uot; Walker said. &uot;We saw a lot of things in there, and I think it was a good thing. We’re trying to find some new people to help us out when we get in trouble. We have not had a game like this in two or three years &045; since (assistant) Coach (Cherea) Wood played. I think things are falling into place for a lot of them, and it was a good win.&uot;

The best thing about it had to have been the fact that everyone got significant time on the floor &045; Walker had four freshmen on the floor for a couple stretches in the game &045; but the game plan never changed. The 31-point margin of victory was by far their biggest of the season, and four players finished in double figures in scoring.

Not that it was a complete game &045; the Lady Braves still struggled at the free-throw line by hitting 12 of 24 shots &045; but they played well in every other phase.

&uot;We needed this to go into the tournament,&uot; said sophomore Natasha Dennis, who finished with 12 points. &uot;My teammates stepped it up, and everybody did a good job. Going into the tournament having confidence is going to be really good for our team. Everyone is starting to have confidence, and the coaches are having confidence in us. We have confidence in each other, and that’s what’s starting to pick us up.&uot;

Not that anyone was lacking confidence in the paint &045; the Lady Braves’ strongest area this season &045; but things really started happening down on the post against the Lady Panthers. Tnonealyer Powers, Candace Roberts and Rasaan Powell combined for 28 points, and Alcorn held the edge in scoring in the paint, 24-6.

Prairie View got in trouble when post player Carolyn Hopkins picked up her third foul midway through the first half, and the Lady Braves kept attacking the inside and PV’s 2-3 zone defense.

&uot;We’ve had problems inside all year,&uot; Prairie View assistant Jerrel Moore said. &uot;We lost our biggest inside player before the season started, and we lost another big girl at Alabama A&M.; Once they got Carolyn Hopkins in foul trouble, we knew we would have problems. We had to bring in walk-on kids, and they fought hard, but it’s hard for them.&uot;

Things started to go bad for the Lady Panthers (5-21, 3-15) at the end of the first half, but Alcorn put the pressure on in the second half and put the game away. The Lady Braves started the second half on a 15-2 run with Tnonealyer Powers tossing in six points and Dennis accounting for eight.

With Hopkins back on the bench with four fouls, Powers finished the run with two free throws at the 12:28 mark for a 58-25 lead.

&uot;Our coach told us to go inside because they were short on people,&uot; said Powers, who finished with 12. &uot;We kept trying to go inside and getting them in foul trouble. (Hopkins) is a good player, and coach told us to take it to her. We knew she was foul-prone. If we got her in foul trouble, we could take her out of the game.&uot;

The Lady Braves kept pounding it inside against Prairie View’s 2-3 zone defense, getting every post player who entered the game enough touches to satisfy. Powell had two straight baskets in heavy traffic midway through to put the Lady Braves’ lead at 23-8, and Powell hit one of two free throws with 7:58 left for a 26-14 lead.

Prairie View got a 3-pointer from Jasmine Binns and two free throws from Casey Hart to trim the lead to 28-21 at the 5:39 mark before the Lady Braves turned it back on. A bucket from LaToya Johnson sparked a 11-0 run &045; one that included a Sims 3-pointer &045; to take a 39-21 lead with 1:25 left.

The Lady Braves then added buckets from Shirley Gooch and Johnson to go into the half with a 43-23 lead. The Lady Panthers had all sorts of trouble in the first half and finished with 16 turnovers by the break.

&uot;One thing about Coach (Robert) Atkins, his kids are very aggressive,&uot; Walker said. &uot;I really admire that. They play 40 minutes like they are only two points down and had a chance to win the game. I’ve got a great deal of respect for them.&uot;