Lidge, Southern beat Alcorn St. 64-44 in SWAC title game, clinch NCAA Tournament berth

By Canadian Press on March 15, 2025.

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) — Tionna Lidge scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds — the senior’s first career double-double — to help No. 1 seed Southern beat Alcorn State 64-44 on Saturday night to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament.

Southern (20-14) clinched its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, all since 2002.

DaKiyah Sanders and Soniyah Reed also scored 11 points apiece for Southern.

Destiny Brown made a jumper 15 seconds into the second quarter that gave the Braves their last lead at 22-20. They went scoreless over the next 7 1/2 minutes as five different Southern players scored in a 14-0 run — including 3-pointers by Reed and Taniya Lawson — and the Jaguars took a 36-24 lead into halftime.

No. 6 seed Alcorn State (14-18), which beat Southern 59-55 in overtime on the road in the only regular season meeting between the teams on Feb. 1, made 2 of 10 from the field, 0 of 5 from 3-point range, and committed seven turnovers as it was outscored 16-4 in the second quarter.

The Braves trimmed their deficit to 38-31 when Sharmayne Finley hit a jumper a little more than two minutes into the third quarter but the Braves got no closer.

Brown led Alcorn State with 12 points and three blocks. Finley added 11 points and Nakia Cheatham finished with 11 rebounds to go with six points.

Southern, which went into the game leading the SWAC in scoring defense (57.3 per game) and forcing 20.2 turnovers per game (No. 28 nationally), limited the Braves to their second-lowest scoring output of the season. Alcorn State scored 41 in a 52-point loss to No. 25 Mississippi on Dec. 30.

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The Associated Press

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