BATON ROUGE, La. – Junior forward Dariauna Lewis (Omaha, Neb.) erupted for another massive double-double and Alabama A&M (8-4, 6-3 SWAC) held off a late rally as they battled Southern (8-10, 8-4 SWAC) for 40 minutes to earn a 78-76 victory in an NCAA Division I women's basketball game on Wednesday, February 24.
 
Lewis, who has been a double-double machine, out did herself with 24 points and an incredible 19 boards, including eight off the offensive glass, while playing all 40 minutes to lead the Bulldogs. Not to be outdone, senior guard Nigeria Jones (Lincoln, Neb.) surpassed the 20-point plateau, finishing with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
 
Redshirt-junior center Elexis Evans (Greensboro, Ala.) registered 18 points on a near-perfect 9-of-10 from the field to go with five caroms and senior guard Deshawna Harper (Indianapolis, Ind.) rounded out the top performers with eight points.
 
The clubs would battle through three ties over the first five-plus minutes before Lewis sparked five straight points with an old school three-point play to give A&M an 11-6 lead at the 2:45 mark of the first quarter. The Jaguars would then bounce back over the remainder of the frame to cut it to 15-12.
 
Over the first 4:35 of the second, the Bulldogs would grow the lead to 26-18 as they scored 11 of the first 17 points before SU responded with a 12-2 run of their own to take a 30-28 advantage with 2:12 left in the half. A&M would knot the score three times before taking a narrow 33-32 lead into the break.
 
That lead would expand to 40-34 behind five points from Jones and would hit 50-41 by the 2:22 mark before the Jaguars answered back. That would come in the form of a 9-2 outburst that narrowed it to 52-50 heading to the fourth.
 
Trailing by four less than a minute in, Southern ripped off five straight points to take the lead for the first of three times in little over a minute before deadlocking at 60-60 with 6:41 showing on the clock. From there the lead changed hands six times before the Bulldogs held on to one to go up 69-65 with just over two and a half minutes left.
 
A three by Amani McWain kept the Jaguars in it but A&M would maintain their lead, even extend it to 76-72 with 30 seconds left, before seeing it narrowed to 77-76 just 17 seconds later. A free throw by Jones made it a two point margin and the Bulldogs proceeded to stave off a three at the buzzer to hang on for the 78-76 victory.
 
Genovea Johnson led Southern with 21 points, five boards and three steals while McWain wasn't far behind with 18 points, four caroms and three assists. Nakia Kincey knocked down 7-of-13 shots, including 3-of-5 from range, and Tyneisha Metcalf and Zaria Harleaux finished with eight and seven points, respectively.
 
Alabama A&M returns home to close Elmore Gymnasium with a two game homestand, beginning with Prairie View A&M on Saturday, February 27. Game time is slated for 2 p.m.