LORMAN &045; It’s hard to say which was more difficult to watch &045; Tnonealyer Powers being helped off the floor in the first half with a knee injury or the growing Alcorn deficit that followed.

Needless to say, everyone held their breath well after Powers left the floor.

That’s when the other senior Lady Braves toughened up and refused to give up a home game this early in the SWAC schedule. LaToya Johnson and Shikhia Sims came up with some big buckets midway through the second half, and Candace Roberts picked up the slack when Powers went down in a 58-48 Alcorn win.

&uot;That really woke us up,&uot; Johnson said of when Powers went down. &uot;We realized we had to step up and play hard and everybody had to do their part. We were rushing (our shots). When we weren’t hitting it, we got a little frustrated. After Powers went down, we stepped back, looked at it and took a different approach to it.&uot;

The sluggish start on Alcorn’s behalf had the Lady Tigers thinking upset in what would have been their first win of the season. They took a three-point lead at halftime and even had a five-point lead five minutes into the second half.

That’s when Johnson and Sims sparked the turnaround that led to a 16-2 Alcorn run. And it came with all sorts of ways &045; layups off steals, fast breaks getting down the floor and those good, old-fashioned mid-range jumpers that just seemed to roll off Johnson’s fingertips.

&uot;Johnson just took over the game,&uot; TSU head coach Claude Cummings said. &uot;We didn’t have anybody that could guard her. She’s a first-team all-conference player, and when her team needed her the most, she came through for them. We stayed with the man (defense), but it looked like when we got on her she would shoot right over the top of us.&uot;

Johnson nailed a 3-pointer at the 14:04 mark &045; the Lady Braves’ only triple of the game out of six tries &045; that turned out to the be a huge momentum swinger. That’s when the Alcorn defense picked up a bit when it switched to a man-to-man, and Johnson fed Ebony Franklin with a pass for a layup with 12:02 left that put Alcorn’s lead at 37-33.

Roberts and Rasaan Powell then tossed in baskets &045; Roberts’ coming via a wide-open layup &045; for a 44-35 lead.

Roberts finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.

&uot;Our defense always initiates and dictates the game,&uot; said Johnson, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds. &uot;Our defense always sets the tone. We’re more of a get-after it team. Most of the second half we played man.&uot;

The defense hurt Texas Southern, but it wasn’t as bad as when Johnson and Sims started canning jumpers in the halfcourt after the Lady Tigers got back on track a bit on the offensive end. Johnson hit a bucket with 8:54 left to cap the 16-2 run for a 44-35 lead and another at the 8:15 mark, and Sims followed with a bucket just under a minute later for a 48-40 lead.

Vernette Skeete’s basket at the 6:35 mark put the lead at 50-40 for Alcorn (6-4, 2-0).

&uot;I don’t know &045; there were a million things that went through my mind in the first half,&uot; Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker said. &uot;We knew we didn’t play our best game. We came out in the second half and did a great job. I’m proud of them. We talked to them at halftime and told them, ‘If you play around with them, they’ll beat you.’ I’m really proud of them.&uot;

The Lady Tigers (0-11, 0-2), who lived by the 3-pointer in the first half, couldn’t duplicate the effort from beyond the arc in the second half and struggled offensively. After Skeete’s bucket the Lady Tigers got a score from Victoria Jones at the 5:52 mark but got just two more baskets for the remainder of the game.

Johnson hit a basket with 3:16 left to give the Lady Braves’ their biggest lead of the game at 55-43.

&uot;We just quit being patient,&uot; Cummings said. &uot;We started dribbling the ball where we knew the trap was coming from. Not to take anything from them, but that’s not us being smart.&uot;

In the first half Alcorn went to a 2-3 zone defense to keep the Lady Tigers’ inside game at bay and used a 6-0 run to take a 19-15 lead at the 5:00 mark when Johnson put in a layup off her own steal to finish the run.

Texas Southern, keeping it for a good portion of the 35 seconds on the shot clock, answered when Dominee Evans tossed in a bucket and Taneisha Riles canned two 3-pointers for a 23-21 lead.

Evans followed that up with another bucket with 1:48 left, and the Lady Tigers took a 25-22 lead into halftime.

&uot;Our shooting really picked up,&uot; Walker said. &uot;Candace Roberts did a good job. She came out and picked up and did a good job for us. I was very proud of her. Sometimes she has her ups and downs, but the last two games she’s really played very well for us. I’m worried about Powers &045; that’s the coach on the floor right there.&uot;