Box Score / Katrich Williams recorded a game-high 24 points as the Alabama A&M Bulldogs defeated Alabama State, 60-50, in Montgomery, Ala on Sat. Jan 16. Whiquita Tobar tallied 11 points and eight boards while playing a career-high 40 minutes. Dominisha Johnson chipped in with eight points. With the win, A&M improves to 8-6 overall and 4-1 in the league. The team is back in action on Sat. Jan. 23 at Southern beginning at 2 p.m.
As a team, the Bulldogs were 18-for-47 from the floor (38.3 percent), including 4-of-8 from behind the arc. A&M won the battle of the boards, 37-31 with Johnson’s nine off the glass leading the way.
The Bulldogs rattled off five straight points to begin the game. A free throw by ASU’s Jasmine Quinn gave the Hornets its first point of the half as the team went without a field goal until the 12:52 mark. A&M pushed the spread to 23-14 with just over two minutes left in the first 20. Alabama State trimmed its deficit with a 6-1 run over the proceeding 1:30 to trail 24-20. A 45-foot three pointer at the buzzer by Tobar ended scoring for the first stint as A&M held a slim 29-22 advantage heading into intermission.
Williams scored 13 of her 24 points in the first 20 off 3-of-5 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs shot 40 percent from the field (10-for-25), while holding the Hornets to a 36.8 clip (7-for-19).
In the second half, Alabama State used five straight unanswered to cut it to 29-27 at 17:04. Sparked by a Williams trey, the Bulldogs responded with an 11-2 run over a three-plus span to achieve its widest margin of the game, 40-29, at the 14:48 mark. A&M pushed the spread to 46-31 with a Watkins layup midway through the period. The Hornets sliced into the Bulldog advantage to bring itself to within seven (57-50) with just over a minute left in regulation, but would get no closer than that, however.
ASU scoring was distributed evenly as no one scored in double figures. Kimberly Hunter and Tanika Jackson both scored nine apiece. Jackson also tallied a game-high 17 boards. The loss drops the Hornets to 3-1 in SWAC play.
The Bulldogs will travel to Baton Rouge, La. to face Southern University for a 2 p.m. tip.
