ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana – The Lady Tigers of Texas Southern University jumped out to an insurmountable lead in the first quarter Saturday and never looked back as claimed a 56-43 win over Northwestern State.
Joyce Kennerson maintained her place as the nation's second-leading scorer after pouring in a game-high 28 points on 7-of-14 shooting. The junior from Port Arthur drained four out of her five 3-point tries and handed out a career-best eight steals.
Kaitlyn Palmer and Catherine Okwilagwe scored 10 points apiece for the Lady Tigers (4-4), who won their third straight game, and second over a Southland Conference opponent in as many contests. Okwilagwe's 10 points marked a career high, while Palmer matched a career high with three blocked shots.
Cheyenne Brown scored 15 points to lead Northwestern State (4-4).
The Lady Tigers return to action Sunday, Dec. 17, when they host Paul Quinn College at TSU's H&PE Arena. Tipoff has moved from its original start time to 7 p.m. to accommodate a Houston Cougars men's basketball game earlier that afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lady Tigers needed only one quarter to seize control of the game as they outscored Northwestern State 26-9 over the first 10 minutes. Palmer's 3-pointer with 8:43 remaining in the period broke a 2-2 tie and gave TSU a lead it would not relinquish for the duration of the game.
A 13-2 TSU run between the 7:14 and 2:10 marks of the opening period gave the Lady Tigers a commanding 21-6 lead. After NSU's Jocelyn Scott knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining to cut the deficit to 21-9, the Lady Tigers finished by scoring the final five points of the first quarter.
The Lady Demons simply had no answer for Kennerson and Palmer in the first 10 minutes, as each player scored 10 points while shooting perfect from the field. Palmer was 4-of-4 from the field, while Kennerson shot 3-of-3; both players made both of their first-quarter 3-point tries.
A defensive struggle ensued in the second period as each team managed only four points apiece while combining to shoot 3-of-27 from the field. The second period was scoreless for more than four minutes until Kennerson's layup with 5:42 remaining gave the Lady Tigers their largest lead of the game at 28-9.
Northwestern State would close the gap to 10 points in the third quarter, only to see TSU pull away. A 6-0 run in the fourth quarter pulled the Lady Demons to within eight with 5:43 left in the final period, only to see the Lady Tigers again respond with four consecutive points of their own.
KEY POINTS
• The Lady Tigers won their sixth consecutive neutral-court game dating back to the 2016 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament.
• Isis Lane pulled in a career-high 15 rebounds for the Lady Tigers, while guard Camille Mills hauled in 10 rebounds.
• The Lady Tigers shot 10-of-12 (83 percent) from the floor in the first period, and 10-of-39 (26 percent) for the remainder of the game.
• The win was the TSU's first-ever triumph over Northwestern State, which had won the three previous meetings between the two teams.
• The matchup marked the first time the Lady Tigers had faced Northwestern State since the 1986-87 season. The Lady Demons also swept a home-and-home series from TSU during the 1983-84 season.
• Kennerson pushed her career point total to 1,073 points. She is only 71 points away from tying Darlene Hale (1978-82) for seventh place on the TSU's all-time scoring list.
• The game was played at Alexandria's Rapides Parish Coliseum, approximately 50 miles from the Northwestern State campus, as part of the men's and women's basketball teams' CenLa Showdown. The NSU men hosted nearby Division III opponent Louisiana College.
BOX SCORE
TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS
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