LORMAN &8212; Under normal circumstances and maybe if she had a core of returning players from last year, Alcorn head coach Shirley Walker would relish the thought of getting another crack at Louisiana Tech.

But this season&8217;s been anything but normal.

And the only returning starter from last year? She&8217;s been bothered by injury.

There&8217;s very little to carry over from last year&8217;s meeting at Lorman when the Lady Techsters escaped with a 62-61 win over Alcorn after the Lady Braves led for nearly the entire game. The Lady Braves are nearly brand new, and they&8217;ll go to Louisiana Tech tonight and give it their best shot.

Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Tech&8217;s Thomas Assembly Center.

&8220;I&8217;ve been having injuries ever since Nov. 21 (the season opener),&8221; Walker said. &8220;If I can stay healthy, I will feel better. Even though we do have a lot of new slots, and I did see some good points in the last game, we&8217;re up and down. But the main thing right now is staying healthy and being healthy. That&8217;s one block that&8217;s in my way.&8221;

The list of players nursing injuries runs the gamut and has forced the Lady Braves to juggle their starting lineup. The good news is point guard Tanika Nunez should play tonight after she suffered a concussion against Kent State Saturday and felt pain down in her back after the collision.

Yet post player Rasaan Powell is questionable after suffering an ankle injury Wednesday morning in practice. Natasha Dennis suffered jammed fingers in the Murray State game two weeks ago in Missouri, guard Precious Sheats suffered an ankle injury at the Texas A&M-Corpus; Christi tournament and post Tina Huff is out with an illness doctors have yet to diagnose.

&8220;We basically had three starters out for the Birmingham Southern game (Sunday),&8221; Walker said. &8220;We got back, and it looked like we had everybody on the same cylinder and had everybody but Tina. I&8217;ve had injuries, but every week it&8217;s two or three. When Rasaan went out, (my husband) said, &8216;When it rains, it pours.&8217; I just shook my head and said, &8216;Yeah, you&8217;re right.&8217;&8221;

Huff&8217;s status remains the biggest worry for everyone since the 6-5 post player had just started to reach her potential. She fell ill after the Murray State game at the Missouri tournament, spent the night in the emergency room but was cleared to play the next day in the win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

But her symptoms resurfaced once she arrived back on campus, and she didn&8217;t play at all last weekend.

&8220;She went to the doctor today,&8221; Walker said. &8220;Tina has something &8212; I don&8217;t know the name of it. When she got back, she started having a lot of symptoms around her rib cage. She has a breathing problem. She woke up one night after we got back and was having problems. The trainer and doctors told us not to put her on the floor until she goes through some more tests.&8221;

The lineup may be makeshift tonight, but the guard play should have Nunez back with Sheats and Dennis at the small forward. Sheats, who played very little last season, has stepped up her game with 17 points against Birmingham Southern in 35 minutes on the floor and 13 points in 36 minutes against Kent State.

Nunez had been there prior to the concussion. She&8217;s averaging 12.2 points a game thanks to 30 3-pointers already &8212; four shy of doubling her total from a year ago.

&8220;That&8217;s been on my mind all day,&8221; Walker said of her guards. &8220;We&8217;re just going to look and see what we have and hope the people we have step up. When Dennis went down in Missouri, one thing that did make me feel real good was Tanika Nunez looked at her teammates and said, &8216;I&8217;ve got to step up.&8217; That&8217;s what I call a coach on the floor.&8221;

This year&8217;s Tech team may be deeper than last year&8217;s club that lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as an 11th seed, the lowest in school history.

That doesn&8217;t fit well for Alcorn, a team that lost four starters from last year&8217;s SWAC Championship team.

But losing that game to Tech last year was frustrating. Missed free throws down the stretch killed them. The team is new, but the lessons learned remain the same.

&8220;Opportunities only come once,&8221; Walker said. &8220;Free throws can win it or lose it for you. I don&8217;t talk about it, and they don&8217;t talk about it. But they know.

&8220;Other than that, I&8217;ll put my hand in a bag and pull out an answer. Going to Louisiana Tech, I&8217;ll need any ammunition I can get. The key is going to be defense.&8221;