LORMAN &045; Alcorn State set out to dominate an overmatched Prairie View A&M squad.

Mission accomplished.

The Lady Braves (5-4, 1-0) opened the Southwestern Athletic Conference season with a 93-55 win Monday night over the Lady Panthers (1-7, 0-1).

After having some struggles against a tough slate of non-conference opponents, Alcorn showed why it is one of the favorites to win the SWAC crown this season.

Alcorn is in the midst of a stretch of six games in 12 days. With Monday’s win, the Lady Braves are 2-1 thus far in those games.

&uot;I’m trying to keep the girls focused and hope they can stay healthy,&uot; Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker said. &uot;We’ll come in tomorrow and try to work on our game plans and get some rest.&uot;

They certainly got that against a hapless Lady Panthers squad, which lacked the size, talent and depth to hang with the Lady Braves for more than a few moments.

Alcorn went out to a 47-24 halftime advantage, setting the stage for a second half in which the outcome was never in doubt.

Tnonealyer Powers and Rasaan Powell, the tough front-court duo for Alcorn, asserted themselves to start the second half after a slow first period, combining to score seven of the team’s first 11 points in the period. Alcorn came out in a pressure defense and showed improved ball movement to start the second half, further increasing its lead to a high point of 47 points at 85-36 with 5:18 remaining in the game.

After that point, Prairie View made some inroads against the big lead, outscoring Alcorn 19-8 down the stretch, though it made no difference in the outcome.

Prairie View’s attempts at pressuring Alcorn in the second half generally backfired, giving the Lady Braves some easy scoring opportunities or forcing the Lady Panthers to foul.

Alcorn generally used the second half of the blowout as an opportunity to work on eliminating turnovers and get some time for its backups.

&uot;I told them to try to eliminate turnovers and keep to the game plan,&uot; Walker said. &uot;I told them to slow down a little and not worry about getting rid of the ball immediately.&uot;

That strategy seemed to work. The Lady Braves turned the ball over nine times in the second half, but forced 16 Prairie View turnovers.