ATLANTA, Ga. |  After a thrilling four quarters, and a historic season, the Alabama A&M University women's basketball team fell 56-53 to the Alcorn State Braves in the quarterfinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Women's Basketball Tournament.

Alcorn State (13-17, the No. 6 seed,) advances to the SWAC Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals for the second consecutive season and will meet the second seed, Texas Southern, at 10 a.m. (central time) on Friday. Alabama A&M concludes its historic season - the first 20-plus win season in program history at the NCAA Division I level - at 21-10.

In the final minutes, Alabama A&M snatched a 51-49 advantage after a Lauryn Pendleton layup with 1:33 remaining, but free throws by Nakia Cheatman put the Braves back in front, 54-51 with 1:13 left. AAMU closed the gap to 54-53 after a Kalia Walker layup with 51 seconds remaining. A jumper by Jaenee Anderson pushed the Braves lead to 56-53 with 22 seconds to play. 

Alabama A&M had multiple looks during the final 15 seconds as Walker missed a 3-pointer, followed by a missed jumper by Alisha Wilson. Still with one last chance, Pendleton's triple missed the rim and WIlson collected the rebound as time expired, giving Alcorn State the stunning tournament win.

Pendleton led the Bulldogs with 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal, while Wilson added 10 points, eight boards and five steals.

Destiny Brown, the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, registered a double-double of 20 points and 13 boards, along with three assists and two blocks. Jeanee Anderson tallied nine points and one board.





HOW IT HAPPENED  

• Alcorn State was the first to get on the board from a driving layup from Destiny Brown 
• Pendleton responded with a driving layup of her own but a three pointer from Sharmayne Finley gave the Braves the slim lead.  
• Pendleton brought the score within one of the frame.  
• Finley sunk the second triple of the contest to put the Braves up 8-4 with six and a half minutes remaining in the opening frame  
• Alcorn State went on a 6-2 run out of the media timeout to prompt an AAMU stoppage (14-7) 
• A three-point play from Brown extended the Brave lead, 16-9 with just over a minute remaining 
• Kalia Walker found the basket though the inside to bring the Bulldogs within five 
• Aniya Palmer scored a pair from an under the basket layup to bring the contest within two going into the media timeout 
• A second chance shot from Wilson closed the Brave gap to just three with two minutes remaining in the first half  
• A foul shot from Harris-Smith sent the teams to the break with Alcorn ahead by four (23-19) 
• Pendleton opened the second half with a mid-range pull up 
• Jeanee Anderson sunk an uncontested triple, but Pendleton saw another jumper hit the bottom of the net (26-23) 
• Wilson stole the ball and dropped it in the net on the other end to come within one of the frame (26-26) 
• Another AAMU steal from Harris-Smith put the ball into the hands of Pendelton who scored another pair to take the lead and force the Braves to call a stoppage.  
• Wilson scored a pair of foul shots to put the Bulldogs ahead by three heading into the media timeout  
• Four more free throws gave the Maroon and White a six-point lead with just under four minutes remaining in the stanza  
• The Braves managed to cut the lead to two but called a stoppage after a pair of turnovers 
• Burgin saw a floater sink to the bottom of the net but Nakia Cheathman recorded a jumper to take a slim one-point lead 
• Harris Smith found the right corner and shot an uncontested triple to regain the lead going into the final stanza 
• Alabama A&M tallied consecutive steals and layups on back-to-back possessions to gain their largest lead of the contest at 45-39 to force an Alcorn State timeout 
• Alisha Wilson recorded a jumper to extend the Bulldog control to seven 
• Burgin knocked down a tough layup (49-42 ; 4:31) 
• Brown tallied five more to tie the contest  
• Zy'Nyia White notched a floating jumper to give the Braves a slim 51-49 lead with just over two minutes remaining 
• After an officials review that gave AAMU possession, Pendleton recorded a driving layup before Alcorn tallied two foul shots (54-52) 
• Walker scored another driving layup to come within one of the contes with less than a minute remaining 
• Anderson scored another pair for the Braves to go up three points with just 22 seconds left 

• Alabama A&M shot 33.9 percent (20-59) from the field and 7.1% percent (1-14)  from behind the arc  
• AAMU went 12-18 (66.7) percent) from the line  
• The Bulldogs grabbed 29 total rebounds, with 11 coming on the offensive glass
• Lauryn Pendleton's recorded 17 points 
• Alisha Wilson added 10 points, eight rebounds and five steals. 
• Jaiyah Harris-Smith led the Maroon and White with six assists and five steals
• The Bulldogs finished with 38 points in the paint, 9 bench points, and 18 points from 26 Braves turnovers   
• Both teams largest lead was seven points 
• AAMU picked up 16 steals compared to the Braves' five 
• Alcorn State shot 37.5 percent (18-48) from the field, 35.7 percent from the line (17-27), and 23.1 percent (3-13) from behind the arc  
• Alcorn State grabbed 40 rebounds, 25 of them defensively 
• Destiny Brown paced the Braves with a 20 point and 13 rebound double-double  
• The Braves saw 24 points in the paint, 11 bench points, and just five points from 15 Bulldog turnovers 

For complete coverage of Alabama A&M Athletics – Huntsville's only Division I program - check out the official homepage at www.aamusports.com. Remember to follow us on social media: Instagram (@aamuathletics), Facebook (aamubulldogathletics), Twitter (@_aamuathletics) and TikTok (aamuathletics).