Women's basketball opens with 76-46 rout (with VIDEO)

[PonyPride]

DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU women’s basketball team started the season with a dominant performance, defeating Alcorn State 76-46 in Moody Coliseum Saturday. Sophomore Destynee Hives-McCray finished with her first double-double, scoring 13 points with 10 rebounds, both career highs. Hives-McCray was 4-of-10 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Senior Alisha Filmore led the team with 14 points and had four assists and five of SMU’s 13 steals.

The Mustangs scored eight of the first 10 points, but after nine minutes led the Lady Braves by only three, 13-10. SMU went on a 9-0 run over the next five minutes, stretching the lead to 12, and ended the first half with a 37-23 lead.

The young SMU squad was even better in the second half, shooting 57.1 percent in the final 20 minutes, an increase of more than 20 percent from the first half. Freshman Farrin Bell scored eight of her 12 points in the second half, hitting 5 of 10 shots from the field in her collegiate debut. The SMU defense held Alcorn State to just 22.9 percent from the field in the second half, holding the Lady Braves to just eight field goals in each half. The Mustangs also forced 20 turnovers.

Junior transfer Korina Baker went 3-for-5 on 3-point attempts to finish with nine points and three assists, and Mallory Singleton added a bucket from beyond the arc to give the Mustangs four three’s in 12 attempts. SMU out-rebounded Alcorn State 51-37, and freshman Nia Jackson posted a pair of blocks.
The Mustangs face Texas Southern Monday night in Moody Coliseum at 7 p.m. in the second game of SMU’s season-opening six-game home stand.

[Mustangs35SMU]

Way to go Ponies.