In the midst of an Alcorn Lady Brave resurgence late in Saturday’s game, Jackson State’s feisty little Latesha Lee fired a shot from way out to avoid getting called for a shot clock violation.

The shot, of course, didn’t hit a thing since Lee nearly stood alongside head coach Denise Taylor when she fired it. But lunging in the air to grab the air ball was Alcorn’s feisty counterpart, LaToya Johnson.

Johnson, with a mask protecting her broken nose, dribbled up the floor a bit before firing a long pass to a wide-open Natasha Dennis, who laid it in for two points.

Mask and broken nose, Johnson didn’t miss a step Saturday in her first game back. She took a shot to the nose in consecutive games, sat out the Prairie View game but returned Saturday to score 24 points and grab 13 rebounds in the Lady Braves’ 63-60 loss to JSU.

&uot;She surprised me,&uot; Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker said. &uot;I’m very proud of the way she played with a broken nose. But that’s the way Toya is. She made a couple of turnovers, and I told her she’s got to play under control. If you play under control, you’ll do well. But I’m not worried when Toya is in the game. I know she’ll play hard and do very well for us.&uot;

It’s customary for all five players to go hard almost all the time for the Lady Braves, but Johnson is starting to inherit the role of guard Zandra Hall from last year. Hall, now a graduate assistant for Walker, was the team’s best defender and leading scorer and always played hard.

Johnson had to do it Saturday with a mask protecting the nose, although she pushed it up a bit once late to get a better look while shooting a free throw.

&uot;It’s OK,&uot; said Johnson, a junior from Hazlehurst. &uot;My teammates helped me out. I basically got used to (the mask) in practice. When I felt like it, I took it off. I’m having surgery Wednesday. After that, (I’ll wear it) six weeks &045; a long time. That’s the rest of the season.&uot;

Johnson’s status was in question coming in, and it didn’t sound good since the Lady Braves were hosting a tough Jackson State team. But Johnson started played all 40 minutes Saturday.

It was her first game back after getting hurt against Southeast Missouri Dec. 31 and again at Texas Southern Jan. 3.

&uot;I guess it was just in the heat of the moment I got hit (against SEMO),&uot; Johnson said. &uot;It was kind of bad. It was a chest &045; I got hit in the nose trying to block out for a rebound. I think it was a little worse the second time. It didn’t bleed, but it was just clogging up. It just hurt.&uot;

The Lady Braves, meanwhile, played a little inspired ball after their team leader went down. With Shikhia Sims starting in Johnson’s place, the Lady Braves took a 64-59 road win over Prairie View thanks to double-doubles from both forward Tnonealyer Powers and Dennis &045; a combined 26 points and 33 rebounds.

&uot;We had to pick it up a notch and win one for her,&uot; Powers said. &uot;Everyone picked up their game an extra notch. We feel we have a pretty good chance of coming out on top, and all we have to do is pick up our game.&uot;

Adam Daigle

is sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at (601) 445-3632 or

adam.daigle@natchezdemocrat.com.