LORMAN &8212; No, not this again. No way. Saturday&8217;s loss with four seconds left to rival Jackson State was tougher to swallow than hot cough syrup.

On Monday, it was even worse.

At home again with redemption on their minds and hungry to get back in the win column, the Alcorn State Lady Braves built up a 10-point lead before Grambling chipped away and chipped away. They had three shots at the basket with under 30 seconds left and the score tied at 71, but none of them fell.

Grambling&8217;s, however, did. Sanora Cole and Juleen Smith raced down the floor on for a 2-on-1 fast break, and Smith put one off the glass that went in just after the horn sounded to give Grambling a 73-71 win.

&8220;It hurts,&8221; Alcorn forward Latoya Wily said. &8220;This is our home, and we want to win the games here. It hurts &8212; that&8217;s all you can say. Grambling came out here to play. They came to win. We should have slowed down and tried to take care of the ball.&8221;

It was so hard to watch for the Lady Braves that most of them left the floor while Grambling was still celebrating the win. Guard Tanika Nunez was left laying on the floor after a collision on Alcorn&8217;s final shot, and only ASU head coach Shirley Walker was still around to offer handshakes for the Lady Tigers.

Nunez was transported to the hospital after the game.

&8220;We went in the dressing room, and nobody said anything,&8221; Walker said. &8220;We sat there for eight minutes. I said, &8216;Let&8217;s get a prayer, no practice tomorrow.&8217; I think the key was those second shots we were getting. We just couldn&8217;t put them back. It always goes back to the last three or four ball games &8212; we just can&8217;t give Rasaan (Powell) a hand.&8221;

The ending couldn&8217;t have got any harder to swallow, especially after playing well enough in phases to put the lead in double digits. Grambling, with its big size underneath and quick guards pressing for most of the game, tried to contain Powell down low while putting pressure on everyone else.

Grambling chipped away and took advantage of 30 Alcorn turnovers &8212; a season high and fifth time this season to have 25 or more giveaways &8212; to climb back into the game. Sherman also nailed three 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes to help GSU&8217;s cause and put her club in position to claim its first SWAC win of the season.

&8220;This is one of those games where two teams have always played each other tough,&8221; GSU head coach Rusty Ponton said. &8220;We&8217;ve had some games with them where we&8217;ve come out on the other end. We needed a win tonight. We&8217;ve lost some poorly played games and games where we did play well. This is kind of the turning point, we feel, as far as getting our club on the right track.&8221;

Grambling stayed with its full-court pressure late in the game and just tried to keep Powell from getting the ball inside. The Lady Braves&8217; post player who had 32 points Saturday against Jackson had 21 points and 14 rebounds against Grambling, but she was the first to miss a shot on that final ASU possession.

Powell&8217;s last bucket came at the 8:03 mark that gave Alcorn a 61-57 lead, and Nunez followed that with a bucket off a turnover for a six-point lead. But Powell had just two points after that &8212; two trips to the line where she hit one of two &8212; while GSU finished the game on a 16-8 run.

&8220;Latoya looked like she was some assignments, and all the pressure was on Powell,&8221; Walker said. &8220;We brought (Tina) Huff out, and Huff was missing a lot of shots. When it came down to the guards, we were short on guards. But I hope that will make us grow up.&8221;

Alcorn&8217;s lead hit 11 seven minutes into the second half when Nunez converted a three-point play for a 55-44 lead. From there the Lady Tigers reeled off eight straight points with Smith accounting for the final two buckets to cut the lead to 55-52 less than two minutes later.

Tiffaney Smith hit a bucket driving the lane for a 59-54 lead, but Sherman followed with a 3-pointer after Ebony Franklin missed two free throws to cut the lead to two.

&8220;I feel that Powell is one of the best players we have in the conference,&8221; Ponton said. &8220;You&8217;re not going to stop her. I love the way she plays &8212; she&8217;s old school. The defensive pressure was what got our juices flowing again. If you have to worry about getting the ball down the floor and defending the 3, it&8217;s tough.&8221;